Pres. Trump signs executive order to eliminate sanctuary cities

By: Rebecca Turco

Email: rturco@abc6.com

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza is staying firm on a promise that made national headlines in November: not to let a single undocumented, nonviolent resident get deported from his city.

President Trump took executive action Wednesday to strip federal funding from sanctuary cities, aiming to eliminate them.

Sanctuary cities protect undocumented immigrants from being deported, but there is no clear-cut, across the board definition for what makes a city a “sanctuary.” Certain cities have defined themselves as such; Providence has not.

Ultimately, it will be up to the federal government to come up with a definition and to determine which cities fall under that umbrella.

Henrietta White-Holder, who came to Rhode Island as a refugee from war-torn Liberia back when she was a teenager, is pleading to the president to change this course of action. "It’s a humanity issue," she said. "We have people who are on the fringe in this country and they also need help. We need to lift them up instead of tearing them down."

Elorza offered comforting words to residents feeling uneasy. "To all of the residents I say: we cannot be led on by these incitements to fear and anxiety,” he said. “That’s not going to put us on a healthy path."

Governor Gina Raimondo is on the same page, saying Congress should instead define a path to citizenship for immigrants already here. "I believe that we need to leaven our whole discussion of immigration with kindness and love."

The federal government will ultimately determine which cities are sanctuary in terms of divvying out funding.

Ten percent of Providence’s $700-million budget comes from the federal government, according to Elorza.

© WLNE-TV 2016