Former Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said he is concerned that President Donald Trump’s immigration policies, including his recent executive order on terror-prone countries, his plans to end “sanctuary cities” and his intention to build a wall across the U.S.-Mexico border, could harm Los Angeles’s bid to host the 2024 Olympic Games.
“This could have a real impact on us,” Villaraigosa said, according to the Sacramento Bee.
Villaraigosa, who is running for governor in 2018, reportedly made the statement during a brief interview at the Sutter Club in Sacramento on Wednesday, where he was giving the keynote address to the California Latino Economic Institute.
The U.S. Olympic Committee reportedly issued a statement saying it was working with the government to ensure foreign athletes could travel to the U.S. to compete.
Los Angeles is one of California’s numerous sanctuary cities. Sanctuary cities offer services to illegal aliens and refuse to cooperate with federal officials seeking to enforce federal immigration laws. In some cases, sanctuary cities have refused to turn criminals over for deportation proceedings.
On Wednesday, Villaraigosa reportedly added, “We all have to be concerned about that with this new executive directive focused on Muslims from seven different counties, with this talk of a wall, with (Trump) moving away from trade with Asia and Latin America.”
Last week, Trump issued an executive order that aims to cut off federal funds to “jurisdictions that willfully refuse to comply” with federal immigration enforcement.
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