Elvia Díaz

opinion columnist

President Barack Obama has nothing to fear about his legacy as the “deporter-in-chief” under Donald Trump's administration.

Trump could make Obama's arguably aggressive policy look lightweight — if he keeps his promise of kicking out an estimated 11 to 12 million undocumented immigrants by carrying out U.S.'s biggest deportation operation since the 1930s.

But don’t expect certain big-city mayors to lend a hand, even if their cities stand to lose millions of dollars in federal funding.

MORE:Mayor says Chicago to remain 'sanctuary city'

Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton promised defiance. “The Phoenix Police Department will never turn into a mass deportation force, even if the new government in Washington, D.C., threatens to revoke federal dollars," he said.

“This is something worth fighting for, and we will not be bullied into taking backward steps on civil rights.”

Stanton isn’t alone. Mayors of New York, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles and elsewhere have vowed to protect immigrants by not turning them over to immigration authorities when pulled over by local police officers.

Far more than $3.8 million at risk

It’s easy to take a stance when you have nothing to lose. But cities are truly risking millions of dollars, given Trump's penchant for vengeance.

For fiscal 2016, Phoenix is getting $3.8 million from Uncle Sam, or 0.6 percent of the police department’s $613.9 million budget, according to Stanton’s spokesman, Robbie Sherwood.

The amount includes federal funding that is passed through from the state to the city, Sherwood said.

MORE:What's a 'sanctuary city?' Depends who you ask

The amount is even bigger when you consider grants distributed over a three-year period. Overall, the police department has $21 million in federal grant awards, plus about $400,000 annually in reimbursements from a range of service agreements with various federal agencies, Sherwood said.

Phoenix Councilman Sal DiCiccio criticized Stanton, saying the mayor is telling the public that "it is OK to break the law” and that taxpayers are bearing prison costs of criminals who live in the country illegally.

'Nothing but spin' or a wise move?

“We should expand what President Trump is proposing and go after these individuals our police have identified and get them out of our country,” DiCiccio said on his Facebook page. Stanton's "statement is nothing but spin. It does not address the Trump plan to deport the criminals.”

Trump, who made illegal immigration a top campaign mantra, recently told CBS program "60 Minutes" that he would deport immigrants with criminal records.

That suggests Trump may be contemplating merely continuing Obama’s policy, which pro-immigrant activists decried as inhumane.

Regardless how far illegal immigration enforcement goes under a Trump administration, cities are right – and wise – to let the federal government go at it alone.

Elvia Díaz is an editorial columnist for The Republic and azcentral. Reach her at 602-444-8606 or elvia.diaz@arizonarepublic.com. Follow her on Twitter, @elviadiaz1.