Miami-Dade is hoping to get funding to build a mass transit system by removing itself from a list of Sanctuary Cities.
Under a new policy approved by Mayor Carlos Gimenez and the county commission, illegal immigrants who have been jailed for other crimes will be turned over to the federal government for questioning if it is requested. Previously, the county only honored such requests if the feds paid to hold them.
President Trump has publicly praised Miami-Dade’s decision.
Gimenez told Local 10 that the county will now pursue hundreds of millions—“if not billions of dollars” to build a transit system, which played a part in the decision. Trump has threatened to block federal funding to Sanctuary Cities, and some of those funds meant for other cities could now potentially be diverted to Miami.
Local surveys consistently rank traffic as the top concern of local residents, and Gimenez will come out “very popular” if he manages to solve it, according to a Barry University political science professor.
