Mayors skip Trump meeting after sanctuary threat

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department ramped up pressure Wednesday on so-called sanctuary cities seeking public safety grant money, warning that they could be forced to prove they are cooperating with federal immigration authorities.

The move prompted immediate backlash, with mayors from across the country boycotting a planned meeting Wednesday afternoon at the White House with President Donald Trump.

Trump responded by accusing the boycotting mayors of putting the needs of “criminal illegal immigrants over law-abiding Americans.”

Officials sent letters to roughly two dozen jurisdictions threatening to issue subpoenas if they don’t willingly relinquish documents showing they aren’t withholding information about the citizenship or immigration status of people in custody.

The move angered members of the U.S. Conference of Mayors who had been set to meet with Trump on Wednesday to discuss infrastructure, drug addiction and other topics.

New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu, the conference president, said in a statement that “the Trump administration’s decision to threaten mayors and demonize immigrants yet again — and use cities as political props in the process — has made this meeting untenable.”

New York’s Bill de Blasio and Denver’s Michael Hancock announced their boycotts on Twitter. Still, many mayors did attend.

Trump spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said that if mayors have a problem with the Justice Department’s actions, “they should talk to the Congress, the people that pass the laws. The Department of Justice enforces them, and as long as that is the law, the Department of Justice is going to strongly enforce it.”