U.S. Cities Brace to Lose Infrastructure Funding Over Immigration Policies

Infrastructure projects throughout the country are in limbo due to Trump's executive order barring jurisdictions that refuse to cooperate with federal immigration officials from receiving federal funds. In Politico, Tanya Snyder profiles a series of the projects that could be affected, and explores how cities are responding to the threat.

"Virtually all of the heavily Democratic urban areas declaring themselves ‘sanctuaries’ have accepted or are seeking hundreds of millions of federal dollars to advance major transportation projects," she notes.

Though billions of dollars' worth of infrastructure could be at stake, it's unclear what is going to happen next. There is not yet a list of specific cities or projects whose funding will be cut off. Nor does there appear to be a plan for distributing funds to regional bodies that might include sanctuary cities—like metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs), transit agencies, and airport or port authorities.

Withholding funds from major cities could also have serious regional impacts.

Considering that Boston, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., have all declared themselves sanctuaries for undocumented immigrants, Trump’s reprisals could end up canceling or delaying major infrastructure projects in some of the nation’s most congested areas — even as the administration touts a $1 trillion proposal to rebuild the United States’ roads, railroads, bridges and airports.