A new report shows sanctuary jurisdictions growing at an alarming rate. The Ohio Jobs and Justice Political Action Committee (OJJ) totaled nearly 500 sanctuary cities. The group has been tracking sanctuary cities for more than 10 years.

The report claims sanctuary cities grew to nearly 500 with the addition of 36 new locales in 2017, The Washington Times reported. Previous reports by other organizations have listed sanctuary jurisdictions at around 300.

“More will be coming,” Steve Salvi, founder of OJJ told the Washington Times. “A lot of communities now, there’s resolutions in the works and citizens groups encouraging city councils to pass them.”

Despite the risk of losing federal law enforcement grants, Salvi said local governments are under increasing pressure to adopt sanctuary city status. Breitbart Texas has reported extensively on sanctuary jurisdictions and actions by state and local governments across the country.

The State of Texas is currently evaluating state and federal grants paid to Travis County (Austin) to determine how much money can be withheld from the county for failing to cooperate with federal immigration officials. The state would take the funding from the county under a bill, SB4, outlawing sanctuary cities in the state, Breitbart Texas reported on Tuesday. The bill currently is in the State House after passing in the Senate last month.

Salvi expressed surprise that four sanctuary cities have been removed, or will shortly be removed, after changing policies and returning to cooperation with federal immigration officials. He reports that Anchorage and Fairbanks, Alaska, have both been removed after their respective city councils passed resolutions affirming cooperation with the Department of Homeland Security.

Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Giménez responded quickly to the Trump Administration’s threats to withhold federal law enforcement grants and agreed to comply with all detainers, Breitbart Texas reported. Throughout 2016, the city ignored around 100 immigration holds. Miami-Dade is one of the 10 sanctuary jurisdictions certified by the Department of Justice’s Office of Inspector General and not eligible to receive federal law enforcement grants.

Dayton, Ohio, also reversed course on February 16, Salvi reported. The Dayton police chief reportedly rescinded its sanctuary policy established in 2010. That claim is currently being reviewed to determine if they City is actually in compliance. Breitbart Texas reached out to the City of Dayton for more information about this alleged change in immigration policy.

A Harvard-Harris Poll released in February revealed that about 80 percent of American voters disapprove of sanctuary cities, Breitbart Texas reported. More than 50 percent support President Trump’s executive order calling for stripping federal law enforcement funding from sanctuary cities. Harvard-Harris Co-Director Mark Penn said there is overwhelming opposition to sanctuary cities. “The public wants honest immigrants treated fairly and those who commit crimes deported and that’s very clear from the data.”

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.