Trump draws ire of Santa Fe leaders

SANTA FE — Two executive orders signed by President Donald Trump on Wednesday drew strong opposition in Santa Fe, one of the so-called sanctuary cities subject to the loss of federal funding under one of Trump’s directives.

“I think it’s a declaration of war on sanctuary jurisdictions across the United States,” City Councilor Joseph Maestas said.

So-called sanctuary jurisdictions have policies or laws that restrict local law enforcement agencies from cooperating with federal authorities in enforcing immigration laws. In Santa Fe, officers are under orders not to ask people they arrest or otherwise encounter about their immigration status.

Although City Hall has previously released information that Santa Fe received $6 million in federal funding the past two budget years, Maestas said the city in fact got than $10 million in federal money — most of it for housing or roads and transportation — during fiscal year 2016, which ended in June.

The stated purpose of Trump’s order says, “These jurisdictions have caused immeasurable harm to the American people and to the very fabric of our Republic.”

“By virtue of that definition, it sets a tone,” added Maestas, who recently said Santa Fe was “thumbing our nose” at the Trump administration by reaffirming its sanctuary policies.

Even before Trump signed his orders, Santa Fe Mayor Javier Gonzales was chiming in on Twitter, a communications mode also favored by the new president. “No Presidential Executive Order will make us change our values or who we are,” he wrote.

The mayor, who previously made the rounds on several national media outlets to speak on behalf of sanctuary cities, appeared briefly on MSNBC Wednesday, minutes before Trump emerged to publicly comment on the orders. The mayor was preempted by breaking news that actress Mary Tyler Moore had died.

“The point I planned to make was this: We have embraced diversity and immigration for 400 years. Our values will not change,” Gonzales tweeted. Minutes later, he tweeted again, “We will work with allies to fight for every dollar for this community. Santa Fe will continue to focus local resources on local priorities.”

He later told an NPR interviewer that Santa Fe is on “firm legal ground” in declining to assist in federal immigration enforcement and refusing to issue “detention orders.”

One of the city’s allies is Somos Un Pueblo Unido, a Santa Febased immigrants’ rights group. The group’s director, Marcela Diáz, said of Trump’s orders. “Clearly, it was an attempt to bully local communities by saying they can’t have these immigration policies and that’s simply not true,” she said.

She added that there is established law that says the federal government cannot coerce or compel states or local jurisdictions to enforce federal statutes. “... I think a lot of it is to placate his base and try to scare communities like Santa Fe,” Diaz said.

Allegra Love, an attorney and director of Santa Fe’s Dreamers Project, said she was offended by the assertion that undocumented immigrants cause “immeasurable harm” to the American people. What he didn’t note, she said, were the contributions those same people make to the U.S. economy.