Trump Campaign Demands Tim Kaine Apologize For Calling Sanctuary Cities ‘Phantom’

The campaign of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump demanded Friday that Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine apologize for a comment that appeared to deny the existence of “sanctuary cities,” localities that defy federal illegal immigration law.

“When Donald Trump kind of goes after these phantom ‘sanctuary cities’ and talks about how bad they are, basically what he’s going after is police chiefs,” Kaine said Thursday on CNN’s New Day. “And I trust police chiefs in terms of knowing what should be done to keep their communities safer and police departments and mayors a lot more than I trust Donald Trump.”

New Day host Chris Cuomo immediately challenged Kaine’s remark. “Sanctuary cities are real. They exist, they’re not phantom,” he said.

The Trump campaign agrees. “Tim Kaine’s comment is an insult to the countless Americans who have been killed by Sanctuary City policies, and is further evidence that Clinton-Kaine have no regard for the innocent lives threatened their open borders policies,” said National Policy Director Stephen Miller in a statement to Mediaite. ” There are now 300 federally-recognized Sanctuary Cities — which, in a 19-month period, together refused more than 17,000 detainers for high-risk illegal immigrants and criminals resulting in harm to countless Americans.”

“Kaine should retract his comment at once, and apologies to the families who have suffered,” Miller concluded.

[Image via screengrab]

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