WASHINGTON, D.C. - The big question for Des Moines Mayor Frank Cownie is - will President Trump's $1.7 trillion dollar infrastructure plan be approved? And, when?
"We'd like to finish the bridges, we'd like to improve our streets." Cownie tells WHO Radio News. "And, Public Safety for Des Moines is huge. In the past we've had federal grants that have assisted us for fire and police."
"The question I think for a lot of us in Des Moines, and around the country, is whether or not the federal government is of a mind or in a position to move forward on an infrastructure bill." Cownie said.
Des Moines Mayor Frank Cownie is at the National Conference of Mayors in Washington D.C. today.
While there he says heard what sounded like a threat that Sanctuary Cities may be subpoenaed. He says local police are not trained and not authorized to act as federal agents.
"They're not going to defy federal law, certainly Des Moinse is not." Cownie says of the police. "We don't enforce immigration law. Generally it's local laws, breaking and entering, assaults and robberies, and those kinds of things."
"Of course, we don't ask somebody for passports or their papers." Cownie said.
Map of Sanctuary Cities, Counties, and States by Center for Immigration Studies