President Donald Trump plans to sign an executive order Monday directing the attorney general and the secretary of Homeland Security to identify within a month the cities and states that are not complying with federal immigration laws, a White House official said Monday.
Last week, a federal judge blocked Trump's administration from withholding federal funding from more than a dozen so-called sanctuary jurisdictions that have declined to cooperate with Trump's hardline immigration crackdown.
"President Trump plans to sign an executive order on Monday escalating his battle against Democratic-led states and cities that don’t fully cooperate with federal immigration authorities," a White House official said.
The order was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
Trump's schedule calls for him to sign executive orders at 5 p.m. EST.
In his first hundred days in office, Trump has moved swiftly to strip legal immigration status from hundreds of thousands of people, increasing the pool of those who can potentially be deported as he tries to ramp up removals to historic levels.
The Republican president has sought to end humanitarian legal entry programs launched by his Democrat predecessor and revoked visas of thousands of students who took part in protests or had minor criminal charges, including traffic offenses.
Americans are split on Trump’s immigration approach, but he has a 45% approval rating on immigration, better than other major issues, a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted in mid-April found.