Well, it looks like Secretary Sean Duffy and the Department of Transportation just pulled the plug—and the purse strings—on the coddling carnival that’s been playing out in sanctuary cities for years.
In a move that’s as overdue as it is logical, Duffy made it clear that if your state or city refuses to play ball with federal immigration law, the DOT won’t be playing Santa Claus with your infrastructure budget. Simple deal: cooperate with immigration enforcement, or kiss that shiny new highway goodbye.
Predictably, the left is already melting down over this, screaming about “fascism” and “illegal overreach,” as if asking local governments to enforce federal law is somehow authoritarian. This is the same crowd, mind you, that tried to shut down churches during COVID but now wants to protect rioters attacking ICE facilities in Portland with Roman candles and skateboards.
It’s no coincidence that the cities throwing the biggest fits—Los Angeles, Chicago, New York—are the very same ones being called out by Trump as illegal immigration hotbeds. And suddenly, when Uncle Sam says, “You break the rules, you lose the checkbook,” these mayors clutch their pearls and shout, “How dare you!”
But let’s be honest here—how many miles of road or subway lines need to be torched before someone says enough? According to Secretary Duffy, cities that allow their transportation infrastructure to be vandalized by mobs aren’t just negligent; they’re complicit. When masked anarchists barricade ICE offices and torch robotaxis in the name of “no borders,” that’s not a protest—it’s a siege.
And yet, Democrat leaders stand around like it’s performance art. Karen Bass, the mayor of L.A., went so far as to say she wouldn’t tolerate Trump sending in the National Guard. That’s rich—because she was tolerating looters, arsonists, and federal officers being attacked with bricks and fireworks.
The @USDOT will NOT fund rogue state actors who refuse to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement.
And to cities that stand by while rioters destroy transportation infrastructure — don’t expect a red cent from DOT, either. Follow the law, or forfeit the funding. https://t.co/cCRi4ALT23
— Secretary Sean Duffy (@SecDuffy) June 16, 2025
And then comes the media spin. According to folks like Bass and her echo chamber of progressives, Trump is “manufacturing a crisis.” Oh, please. If you think millions of illegal immigrants straining public schools, crowding hospitals, and undermining law enforcement isn’t a crisis, you might just be living in a taxpayer-funded fantasyland. Let’s not forget the ICE agents in Seattle who were surrounded by mobs while trying to do their jobs. Or the federal agents in Portland ducking explosives while politicians tweet about “de-escalation.”
Meanwhile, Trump’s not mincing words. He’s launching the largest mass deportation effort in U.S. history and putting the full weight of the federal government behind it. It’s not because he wants to be mean. It’s because laws actually mean something. You can’t have a nation without borders—and you certainly can’t have “domestic tranquility” when some cities are running open-air bus stops for anyone who strolls across the Rio Grande.
Sanctuary cities that protect violent criminal aliens put Americans and law enforcement at risk. The Recouping Funds from Sanctuary Cities Act ensures that cities refusing to cooperate with ICE will lose certain federal funds, as the safety of Americans must come first. pic.twitter.com/qg9f1oQQtI
— Congresswoman Beth Van Duyne (@RepBethVanDuyne) June 17, 2025
So no, this isn’t about partisanship. This is about governance. If Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago want to run their cities like anarchist experiments, that’s their business—but don’t expect the rest of America to foot the bill. Secretary Duffy just reminded everyone that actions have consequences. You either uphold the law, or you lose the funding. It’s not punishment—it’s policy. And frankly, it’s about time.
