Read the first 3 words Bro <| sep |> Most folks here have answered your question in terms of how much federal funding Seattle receives , for various reasons . But I would argue that the real answer is zero . Rhetoric aside , what it means to be a sanctiary city is a policeresources decision Seattle , Portland , SF , etc . have a stated policy that local police don ' t enforce immigration law or turn over suspected undocumented folks . They aren ' t violating immigration law , they are just leaving it up to the feds to enforce . The federal government has very broad powers , but they aren ' t limitless exercises of federal power have to be justifiable inder some provision of Article I section 8 lays out the basic powers of Congress or Article II powers of the President . It is very hard at least for me to structure an argument that a purely domestic , intrastate policeresources decision can be overridden by Congress . And Congressional attempts to impose penalties by reducing overall state funding Washington gets the same perpupil money as Oregon , minus Seattle ' s share run afoul of the same reasoning Congress would be meddling indirectly in issues the Constitution prohibits them from meddling in directly . Donald would doubtless like to sequester alreadyappropriated money , but that would amount to a lineitem veto , a power he doesn ' t have . So as I see it and this will have a tortured journey through the courts , and I could be wrong , blah blah blah the current rhetoric about punishing sanctuary cities is empty there ' s a solid court challenge available , and until Donald pulls an Erdogan and starts arresting judges , that challenge should be successful . HAVING SAID ALL THAT There ' s another , much uglier way for DJT to try to get his way . We used to have Fugitive Slave Acts , which overrode Northern sanctuary laws , made assisting a fleeing slave a felony , and authorized slave catchers to exercise a fistful of police powers . These laws became moot when the Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery , and nobody has given them much thought since . Congress might pass a Fugitive Alien Act with similar terms , and the civilservice nightmare of hiring enough immigration police to deport 14 million or so individuals can be avoided by authorizing select private firms to do the hunting in exchange for bounties paid . That this would be extremely bad policy is obvious to me , but the R majority contains numerous rabid weasels , so I don ' t know . I think there are court challenges here as well , but my crystal ball is hazier .