The Small Business Administration (SBA) announced it will relocate six of its regional offices out of often-called “sanctuary cities,” arguing that the existing locations are bad for small business communities and not complying with federal immigration law.
The SBA will move the offices from Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Denver, New York City and Seattle to “less costly, more accessible locations” that follow immigration laws and better serve the business communities, agency Administrator Kelly Loeffler said Thursday.
“Today, I am pleased to announce that this agency will cut off access to loans for illegal aliens and relocate our regional offices out of sanctuary cities that reward criminal behavior,” Loeffler said in a statement.
“We will return our focus to empowering legal, eligible business owners across the United States – in partnership with the municipalities who share this Administration’s commitment to secure borders and safe communities,” she added.
The announcement did not share which new locations the regional offices will move to.
The term sanctuary cities usually refers to municipalities that “decline to cooperate completely with federal detention requests related to undocumented immigrants,” according to Britannica. They have been criticized regularly by GOP lawmakers.
During a Wednesday House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing — featuring Boston Mayor Michelle Wu (D), New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D), Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson (D) and Denver Mayor Mike Johnston (D) — Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) told them she would criminally refer them to the Justice Department for upholding sanctuary city measures.
“You all speak about a broken immigration system and yet here you guys are aiding and abetting in that entire process,” Luna said.
Trump said last year that, if elected president, he would call on Congress to pass legislation to ban sanctuary cities.
“As soon as I take office, we will immediately surge federal law enforcement to every city that is failing, which is a lot of them, to turn over criminal aliens, and we will hunt down, capture every single gang member, drug dealer, rapist, murderer and migrant criminal that is being illegally harbored,” Trump said during a rally in Wilmington, N.C., in September.
Loeffler also said on Thursday that businesses will not be able to obtain SBA loans if their owners are not “in whole or in part” American citizens.
“Under President Trump, the SBA is committed to putting American citizens first again — starting by ensuring that zero taxpayer dollars go to fund illegal aliens,” Loeffler said.
