Sanctuary Cities, Birthright, and Funding Freezes—What the Federal Government Did While You Were Sleeping
The federal government under President Donald Trump has been busy. When the federal government isn’t stripping away the rights to bodily autonomy for women or attempting to erase trans people, the Trump administration makes time to target the immigrant community. We saw a few things go down last week that have bewildered the nation and world. Here are just some of the things that happened these past few days so you can keep up-to-date on some current events.
Mayors of sanctuary cities dealt with a wild and heated congressional hearing
A heated congressional hearing with four mayors showed the growing tension between the federal government and state and local governments. Congress members grilled Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, New York Mayor Eric Adams, Denver Mayor Mike Johnson, and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson about “sanctuary city” policies.
The Republican-led House Oversight Committee questioned the mayors about policies in place to limit cooperation with federal immigration officials. Municipalities and states have created policies over the years to limit cooperation with federal immigration officials. Republicans on the committee attempted to frame the policies as dangerous and criminal. However, that is not the case.
Cities and states have the right to create policies for their jurisdictions. In this case, cities have chosen to limit cooperation between local law enforcement and federal immigration officials. These policies do not negate federal law. The policies do not claim to block federal immigration authorities from carrying out raids and arrests. However, they do seek to limit the amount of resources spent assisting in these arrests.
The hearing was a rambunctious and tense exchange as the mayors stood their ground. Republicans on the committee threatened the mayors when they didn’t back down.
Rep. Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) threatened the mayors by saying she was sending a criminal referral to the Department of Justice. The referrals concern the mayors and her perceived violations of federal law. This claim is misleading at best and knowingly inaccurate at worst. Sanctuary city policies do not block the enforcement of federal law.
Continued fight to change birthright citizenship, a constitutional right
The Trump administration has continued the attack on birthright citizenship provided by the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals joined the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in rejecting the Trump administration’s fight to end birthright citizenship.
President Trump signed an executive order ending birthright citizenship on January 20, 2025, and immediately faced legal challenges. A series of federal judges ruled against the executive order, and the legal challenge has been making its way through the courts. The latest blow to President Trump’s order is the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals.
The Trump administration was dealt a blow from the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. The court is the latest in a long line of judges and courts that have ruled against the executive order in multiple accounts. The federal government sought to overturn a lower court’s decision, creating a nationwide injunction against the order.
“The public interest would not be served by courting this chaos while we take up an appeal of an Executive Order that the district court already has found is very likely unconstitutional,” reads the court’s decision.
The court argued that the Trump administration was unprepared to defend the executive order’s constitutionality. Additionally, the order would do little more than create chaos within identification systems, as a birth certificate would no longer prove citizenship.
The federal funding freeze continues to be blocked, but immigrant organizations in the dark
President Trump issued an order to freeze all federally funded grants. The sweeping announcement has ripple effects nationwide and through various nonprofit industries. The uncertainty not only upended federally approved funding for ongoing projects. Immigrant groups are still seeking answers about how they would be able to move forward.
The email announcing the pause to organizations that rely on the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) was only five sentences long.
According to NBC News, an email sent in early February read: “Effective immediately, your grant from USCIS is frozen in accordance with the pause in activities. Payments are not available at this time. We recognize this will have an impact on your organization. We are unable to provide a timeline on this freeze.”
A group of Democratic lawmakers sent a letter demanding answers on funding programs that help with naturalization. According to NBC News, the letter states there is no evidence that grantees have done anything to justify losing their funding. Organizations relying on funding provide immigration and naturalization services. The federal government has already dispersed funding for organizations like the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights in Los Angeles (CHIRLA). The federal government awarded CHIRLA $450,000 from October 2023 through September 2025. The sudden pause in funding risks worsening backlogs and causing chaos for people pursuing citizenship.
