Luke Messer pushes for federal agencies to only consider citizens, legal residents for funding

Rep. Luke Messer said Wednesday that taxpayers should not have to subsidize sanctuary cities.

“It’s crazy that these communities literally get a financial bonus for having illegal immigrants, and we need to stop it,” Mr. Messer, Indiana Republican, said on Fox News.

He’s authored a bill — Funding Americans First Act — that would require federal agencies to give funding to states and cities based on the number of legal residents and citizens only. Since many federal programs use population size to decide how much each state and city receives, Mr. Messer said that those cities with a high population of illegals actually have more funding.

“Frankly, as the American people learn about this, it’s going to gain momentum quickly, and we’ll get this changed,” he said.

Mr. Messer is also running for the Republican Senate seat in Indiana along with fellow Rep. Todd Rokita and State Rep. Mike Braun.