Long Beach has decided it wants to welcome criminals, have more victims and kill off their town. If Long Beach continues to protect illegal aliens, the new Trump Administration will arrest the co-conspirators even if they are elected officials. The Mayor, Police Chief, city councilmembers are co-conspirators to every crime illegal aliens commit. I would urge every Long Beach crime victim to sue these folks, personally. Your oath of office does not include protecting criminals.
“Long Beach is at risk of losing millions of dollars in future federal grants, according to a Dec. 31 city memo that warns of an incoming presidential administration poised to pull funding from cities that do not cooperate with immigration authorities.
It’s the first assessment of what the city stands to lose, and part of a national trend, as sanctuary cities from San Francisco to Chicago scramble to toughen their policies weeks ahead of the swearing-in of President-elect Donald Trump on Jan. 20.
In the memo, Long Beach Deputy City Manager Meredith Reynolds reported the city has already been promised — but has yet to receive — $524 million across 13 federal grants, with another 11 grants for $416 million it’s still competing for.
Even if Trump stops all further grants to Long Beach, the town will be bankrupt. Let the Mayor and others make the choice.
Long Beach stands to lose millions in federal funds if Trump goes after sanctuary cities
by John Donegan, Long Beach Post, 1/5/25 https://lbpost.com/news/immigration/santuray-federal-funding-long-beach-trump-grants-lose?utm_medium=email&utm_source=ActiveCampaign&utm_campaign=Today%20s%20Headline%20s%201/7/25
Long Beach is at risk of losing millions of dollars in future federal grants, according to a Dec. 31 city memo that warns of an incoming presidential administration poised to pull funding from cities that do not cooperate with immigration authorities.
It’s the first assessment of what the city stands to lose, and part of a national trend, as sanctuary cities from San Francisco to Chicago scramble to toughen their policies weeks ahead of the swearing-in of President-elect Donald Trump on Jan. 20.
In the memo, Long Beach Deputy City Manager Meredith Reynolds reported the city has already been promised — but has yet to receive — $524 million across 13 federal grants, with another 11 grants for $416 million it’s still competing for.
The latter number includes a $400 million ask to the federal Department of Transportation to cover a critical chunk of the cost to replace the Shoemaker Bridge, a marquee project in the city’s Elevate 28’ Olympics Infrastructure plan.
While changes remain “uncertain,” Reynolds said, the city must prepare for the “possibility of the federal government delaying or discontinuing current and future federal grant opportunities.”
Federal funding covers a trove of city infrastructure projects — $111 million across 54 projects last fiscal year — but also some core services; it funds the majority — more than 80% — of the city’s Health Department, parts of its police and fire departments and sends millions of dollars into city welfare programs like shelter and outreach for homeless people and subsidies for affordable housing production.
Without those funds, the city warns it would have to freeze or shutter other programs or find local funding to supplement it.
“Should larger impacts be expected due to a change in federal policy, these impacts will be presented as part of the FY26 budget process,” the report read.
The memo comes a week or so before the Long Beach City Council is expected to pass increased protections under its sanctuary ordinance, the Long Beach Values Act, on Tuesday. They follow a Los Angeles City Council, as well as L.A. Unified School District, which codified their immigration protections in late November, weeks after Trump won the presidential election on Nov. 5.
Long Beach’s proposed ordinance reaffirms its immigration sanctuary policy, which it approved in 2017 during the first Trump Administration. With an affirmative vote, more money would go to the city’s free immigration attorney program while added rules would bar third-party contractors from sharing city data with immigration agents.
The prompt actions by Long Beach leaders signal a sense of urgency to protect the city’s immigrant population — nearly 55,000 undocumented or noncitizen Long Beach residents, according to the most recent U.S. Census — ahead of Trump’s inauguration and promised plans for the large-scale deportation of undocumented or mixed-status peoples living in the U.S.
These are either lawful permanent residents, under Temporary Protected Status, awaiting their court date, DACA recipients or without status altogether.
But it may be impossible to protect both the city’s moral and monetary standing in the coming months.
In a presentation made to the City Council’s Intergovernmental Affairs Committee on Dec. 10, Senior Policy Advisory Leslie Pollner with the lobbying firm, Holland & Knight, warned there will be a “real effort” by the Trump Administration to “cut funding across the board” as it hopes to trim $2 trillion from the national budget.
Housing vouchers and community block grants, she added, will likely be among the early targets, while welfare programs that do remain may have tacked-on work requirements.
Future grants, at least those distributed through the U.S. Department of Justice, Pollner said, may require applicant cities to certify their compliance with federal immigration agents “in order to be competitive.”
Several Long Beach officials remain hopeful, adding that despite the clashes with Trump’s immigration policies in his first term, Long Beach did not miss out on any funding.
“We’re going to be okay no matter who the president is,” said Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson. “But also, just so we’re crystal clear, Long Beach’s values are not changing.”
Long Beach managed to avoid the fray in Trump’s first term, said city manager Tom Modica. In fact, Long Beach saw historic levels of federal aid — $125 million through the Long Beach Recovery Act, albeit to combat the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.
The administration at that time vowed to withhold federal grants through the Department of Justice, which brought limited success following a series of legal battles that stalled the effort. These conditions were later removed in 2021.
There are signals the crackdown could be even broader this time.
In the new Trump Administration, Pollner said, advisors are eyeing other departments like Housing and Urban Development as well as the Department of Transportation to pull funding.
In a Dec. 10 interview with Fox News, Trump’s Border Czar Tom Homan “guarantees” he can use federal funding as a tool against obstinate jurisdictions that do not comply with the administration’s goals.
“So, day one, we’re going to be looking for these public safety threats, arresting them, detaining them and deporting them, and if these sanctuary city mayors don’t wanna help, then get the hell out of the way, because we’re coming, we’re doing it,” Homan said.
And in a Dec. 23 letter, the Trump-aligned America First Legal Foundation warned 249 elected officials nationwide — including four in California — that cities refusing to share data and personnel could “face legal consequences” over their immigration policies. Letters were sent to California Attorney General Rob Bonta and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, among others.
During Trump’s last term, “We saw a license to bully, to attack. …” Richardson said. “My hope is that those things don’t take place in this new administration, but past experience was the best indicator of future performance.”
Any attempt to withhold grant funds will likely spark another court battle.
“They will be on very shaky legal ground, they were challenged last time but they are very likely to reinstate that, at least for DOJ grants, if not for other categories,” Pollner said.
In a statement Friday, Bonta’s office said they are “prepared to take action if the President-elect or his cabinet violate the law,” adding onto assurances that past rulings in 1997 and 2012 restrict what money the federal government can withhold to influence local laws.
“Under the first Trump Administration, we successfully fought back when then-AG Jeff Sessions and the US DOJ tried to place unlawful conditions on federal resources for state and local law enforcement in ‘sanctuary jurisdictions,’ and we will do it again if necessary,” Bonta’s office wrote.
Trump should and Long Beach should. No money from the feds! Support your own stupidity.