Mayor Johnson pushes back on Trump threat to halt U.S. funding for Chicago, other sanctuary cities

President Donald Trump and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson are facing off once again over Trump's threats to pull funding from sanctuary cities like Chicago by the end of the month.

"Starting February 1st, we're not making any payments to sanctuary cities or states having sanctuary cities because they do everything possible to protect criminals at the expense of American citizens. And it breeds fraud, crime and all of the other problems that come. We are not making any payments to anybody that supports sanctuary cities," Trump said Tuesday during remarks at the Detroit Economic Club.

Chicago, along with cities like New York City and Los Angeles, is a sanctuary city, meaning local officials limit cooperation with federal immigration enforcement and have stronger protections for immigrants who entered the country without permission. The latest threat continues Trump's trend of punishing sanctuary cities in his second presidential term. He signed executive orders targeting officials who uphold sanctuary city laws, and Chicago was one of 66 cities that sued the Trump administration over a previous threat to funding in July.

The Justice Department last year published a list of three dozen states, cities and counties that it considers to be sanctuary jurisdictions.

The list is overwhelmingly made up of places where the governments are controlled by Democrats, including the states of California, Connecticut and New York, cities such as Boston and New York, and counties including Cook County and Baltimore County, Maryland.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, who has been vocal in his opposition to the Trump administration, specifically about immigration enforcement, blasted the decision.

"President Trump's announcement that he will attempt to cut off federal funds from Chicago for political reasons is blatantly unconstitutional and immoral," Johnson said in a statement. "We will be relentless until we restore every dollar that has been withheld by the Trump administration. Those are funds that belong to the people of Chicago, not the president."

Johnson pointed out that Chicagoans contribute billions of dollars in federal taxes and pointed to the potential of another lawsuit in response to the threats.

"Chicago will never back down from a fight," he said. "To the president, our message is simple: We'll see you in court."