Sanctuary Cities Funding Threat

January 25, 2017

Executive Order 13768 directed federal agencies to withhold grants and federal funding from municipalities and states that limited cooperation with federal immigration enforcement efforts. The executive sought to use the Spending Clause as leverage to compel compliance with federal immigration priorities. Multiple federal courts found the order unconstitutional under the anti-commandeering doctrine and Spending Clause limitations. Federal funding conditions must be unambiguous, directly related to the federal program, and not coercive. The order failed to meet these requirements. The core constitutional conflict centers on whether the President can unilaterally add conditions to federal spending that Congress did not explicitly authorize, and whether such conditions unconstitutionally commandeer local enforcement resources.