Executive order scrutinized

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal appeals court on Wednesday scrutinized whether President Donald Trump’s executive order to withhold funding from so-called “sanctuary cities” threatened hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding to two California counties or potentially less than a million dollars as the administration claims.

Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals

Chief Judge Sidney Thomas asked what the court was to make of statements by Trump and his administration that the president wants to withhold money from sanctuary cities. Thomas and two other appellate judges — Ronald Gould and Ferdinand Fernandez — will decide whether a lower court judge was right to permanently block the executive order. They did not immediately rule.

Thomas also questioned whether the order would be constitutional if it applied to all types of funding as a lower court judge found.

U.S. Department of Justice attorney Chad Readler said the order was much narrower, noting that it referred specifically to the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security.

He said the judges should not focus on comments by the president or other administration officials. and rail barriers that line the stretch of sprawling desert west of the Santa Teresa border crossing.

“The lack of a wall on the southern border is an open invitation to illegal crossings,” Sessions said.

Dona Ana County Sheriff Enrique “Kiki” Vigil, whose jurisdiction includes Las Cruces and Santa Teresa, doubted that a wall is an appropriate use of resources to combat the flow of drugs in the area — one of the busiest sectors of the U.s.-mexico border.

Vigil said he would prefer to see any additional potential spending on a border wall instead go toward acquiring more technology and filling other needs of law enforcement on the border.

“Just the building of the wall, that’s going to be a humongous price,” he said. “Why not use some of that money to try to address some of the issues here in the counties?”

Citing a crisis on the border, Sessions has issued an order directing federal prosecutors to put more emphasis on charging people with illegal entry.

He took another swipe Wednesday at sanctuary cities, telling the sheriffs that it’s “illogical and insane” that a person can enter the country illegally on Monday and make their way to San Francisco by Wednesday and not be deported.