White House: Migrants to sanctuary cities not a top choice

WASHINGTON (AP) — White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said Sunday the president wants to explore a twice-rejected proposal to send migrants to "sanctuary cities," but it was not the preferred solution to fix the straining immigration system.

Sanders said it was one of many options on the table, though she hoped the solution would be for Congress to work with the president on comprehensive immigration reform. The Trump administration is dealing with an ever-increasing number of Central American migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border that has pushed the immigration system to the breaking point. Laws make it hard to quickly return Central Americans, and many spend years in the U.S. waiting for their immigration cases to play out. Others claim asylum and wait just as long, living and working in the U.S. as they wait.

So-called "sanctuary cities" are mostly left-leaning locales like New York City and San Francisco where laws prohibit local police and correction officers from working with immigration officials to help arrest and deport people living here illegally.

Trump seized on reports last week of the proposal that sought to send migrants already detained to Democratic locations or transport migrants that have just crossed the Southern border to sanctuary cities.

Sanders said the idea would be to spread out the number of migrants so the strain would not be on "one or two border communities."

"The president likes the idea and Democrats have said they want these individuals into their communities so let's see if it works and everybody gets a win out of it," Sanders said. "Again, this is not the ideal situation."

Trump tweeted on Saturday evening that the U.S. had the "absolute legal right to have apprehended illegal immigrants transferred to Sanctuary Cities."

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