Liberal mayors across the United States have vowed to keep their sanctuary city policies intact. Mayors of New York City, Seattle, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Chicago, and Providence spoke out in defiance of a possible nationwide, anti-sanctuary city law.

President-Elect Donald Trump has vowed to removed criminal illegal aliens from the U.S. immediately and pledged to get a law passed banning sanctuary cities during his campaign. This has Democrat mayors pledging to stand in defiance.

The President-Elect reaffirmed his insistence that the rule of law be enforced in an interview last Sunday on CBS’ 60 Minutes. During the interview Mr. Trump said he will move forward with plans to deport criminals and secure the border, the Associated Press reported.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said, “Chicago always will be a sanctuary city,” NPR reported. “To all those who are, after Tuesday’s election, very nervous and filled with anxiety … you are safe in Chicago, you are secure in Chicago and you are supported in Chicago.” His comments come in the face of the city’s massive crime and murder rates.

The mayor of Seattle, Ed Murray, told reporters on Monday, “The last thing I want is for us to start turning on our neighbors.”

Jessica Vaughn, director of policy studies at the Center for Immigration Studies, defended the possible anti-sanctuary city policy as a means of removing criminals from the country. She said that sanctuary city policies put Americans at risk. “The result is people who should be deported, who have come to the attention of police because of crime, are released back into the community,” she told the AP.

Breitbart Texas has reported extensively on crimes committed by criminal illegal aliens who have been previously deported and returned. Many of these have had encounters with local law enforcement and subsequently been released back into the communities. Perhaps most notably was the murder of Kate Steinle.

Crime in the sanctuary city of San Francisco is also rampant. Breitbart News reported that murder rates jumped by 55 percent in 2015 while reports of rape jumped 350 percent. Despite that, the City doubled down on its sanctuary city policies.

“Being a sanctuary city is in our DNA,” San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee tweeted. “San Francisco will never be anything other than a sanctuary city.”

Being a sanctuary city is in our DNA. San Francisco will never be anything other than a sanctuary city. #SF — Mayor Ed Lee (@mayoredlee) November 10, 2016

The police chief and mayor of Los Angeles also joined in their commitment to lawlessness. Police Chief Charlie Beck told the LA Times he is committed to the longtime policy of stay out of immigration issues, the AP reported. Mayor Eric Garcetti agreed, but stopped short of using the “sanctuary city” language. He said the term is “ill defined.”

Texas is moving forward with legislation to block sanctuary city policies in the Lone Star State. State Senator Charles Perry (R-Lubbock) introduced legislation on Tuesday to ban sanctuary cities in Texas, Breitbart Texas reported.

President Obama’s own officials have spoken out against sanctuary city policies. The Department of Justice (DOJ) looked at some jurisdictions and determined their sanctuary policies “appear to violate federal law,” the AP reported. The DOJ report stated “state and local governments may not prohibit or restrict workers from sharing information about a person’s immigration status with federal immigration officials.”

Earlier this year, Representative John Culberson forced the DOJ to announce a new policy to block federal grant funding to local law enforcement authorities who ignore immigration detainers.

Attorney General Lynch stated the “DOJ can take action against jurisdictions receiving grants when they are not in compliance with federal law,” Culberson explained in his statement. “If jurisdictions choose to implement sanctuary policies that prevent them from cooperating with federal immigration authorities, they are putting their federal grant money at risk unless they change their policy to comply with federal law.”

Culberson told Breitbart Texas the AG can audit local law enforcement agencies if they receive a complaint that the agency is not following the law. He then provided a list of cities that have been declared as being not in compliance by the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS). The list was provided to Culberson by Jessica Vaughn from the CIS.

Immigrant advocates and open borders activists continue to conflate the removal of criminal aliens with the issue of separating families. “These cities have reaffirmed they’re going to respect the dignity of all their residents,” Matt Adams, legal director at the Seattle-based Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, told the AP. “What they’re saying is, ‘We’re not going to use our resources to separate families, to deport children, to tear communities apart.'”

President-Elect Trump said earlier this week that immigration and border security are among his top priorities. “We’re looking very strongly at immigration. We’re going to look at the borders, very importantly, we’re looking very strongly at healthcare and we’re looking at jobs,” Trump said. “Big league jobs.”

“After my inauguration, for the first time in decades, Americans will wake up in a country where their immigration laws are enforced,” Trump said to Breitbart News before winning the presidential election.

Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior political news contributor for Breitbart Texas. He is a founding member of the Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX.