Last Updated May 16, 2018 3:34 PM EDT
President Trump is holding a roundtable Wednesday about the “sanctuary state” of California, as the federal government and state continue to war over their preferred approaches to illegal immigration.
Mr. Trump is meeting with a group of mayors and others the White House says are “directly affected by California’s dangerous sanctuary city laws.” The Justice Department is suing the state of California for what the DOJ views as interfering with federal immigration laws.
“We cannot let this butchery happen in America,” Mr. Trump said, after citing an incident of an illegal immigrant accused of rape and other crimes.
Mr. Trump has criticized California Gov. Jerry Brown over the state’s approach to immigration. He has also blasted Oakland’s mayor, who tipped off immigrant communities about upcoming Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids.
“You have sanctuary cities where you have criminals living in the sanctuary cities and then the mayor of Oakland goes out and notifies when ICE is going in to pick them up,” Mr. Trump said in March during his first visit to the state since taking office. “And many of them were criminals with criminal records and very dangerous people … And no, I think the governor’s doing a terrible job running the state of California.”
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