SAN FRANCISCO, April 13 (Xinhua) -- The mayor of the U.S. city of Oakland on Saturday urged President Donald Trump to stop "fanning hate" over his disputed immigration policy.
"It's time to stop fanning hate and division @realDonaldTrump - I've been consistent and clear: #Oakland welcomes all, no matter where you came from or how you got here," mayor Libby Schaaf said on Twitter.
Schaaf was responding to a tweet by Trump Saturday afternoon when the U.S. president seemed to mock Schaaf's earlier statement accusing Trump of planning to send undocumented immigrants to sanctuary cities.
"...So interesting to see the Mayor of Oakland and other Sanctuary Cities NOT WANT our currently 'detained immigrants' after release due to the ridiculous court-ordered 20-day rule. If they don't want to serve our Nation by taking care of them, why should other cities & towns?" Trump tweeted late Saturday.
Sanctuary cities in the United States are known as local jurisdictions that refrain from cooperating with federal authorities and detain undocumented immigrants for possible deportation. Oakland is one along with other Bay Area cities such as San Francisco and San Jose.
Trump's tweet came after Schaaf said in an earlier TV interview that it's not right to divert the resources of local governments to address the issue of undocumented immigrants.
"I am proud to be the mayor of a sanctuary city ... We embrace the diversity in Oakland, and we do not think it's appropriate for us to use local resources to do the government's failed immigration work," she told CNN Friday.
Trump threatened on Friday to release detained undocumented immigrants into sanctuary cities while blaming the country's immigration laws on Democrats.
"Due to the fact that Democrats are unwilling to change our very dangerous immigration laws, we are indeed, as reported, giving strong considerations to placing Illegal Immigrants in Sanctuary Cities only," Trump wrote in a tweet.
Trump's controversial tweets over immigrants have drawn backfire from some sanctuary cities in the Bay Area.
San Francisco Mayor London Breed called Trump's threat "another in a long line of scare tactics and half-baked ideas that are just about chasing headlines and distracting people from real issues."
San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo said his city welcomes any families "who have endured such incredible hardships and have endeavored to make a better life for themselves and their families and want to be a part of our great country."
Schaaf said Trump's idea was "an outrageous abuse of power and public resources."
