DEBRA SAUNDERS: She pulls no punches in this essay: “‘Sanctuary’ means career criminals can run and hide.”

Donald Trump understood something that many Washington insiders missed. Many Americans and some naturalized citizens bristle at elected officials constantly defending the rights of non-Americans to migrate here illegally — and to be rewarded for breaking the law with a path to citizenship. Toward that end, and in deference to his campaign promises, Trump seems primed to deport undocumented immigrants and withhold some federal funds from sanctuary cities like San Francisco.

Trump has dispensed with some of his magical thinking. For example, Trump has ditched his one-time (but impossible to fulfill) promise to deport all 11 million undocumented immigrants.

Now he says he would focus on 2 million or more undocumented immigrants with criminal histories. That is, his focus now is on mainstream ideas that the news media can brand as extreme only at the peril of their credibility.

Yes, he’s setting a trap.

More:

There is also a principle involved here. “As a lawyer for 60 years and a judge for 10,” Superior Court Judge Quentin Kopp recently told me, “I’m a believer in the law. That’s why I don’t understand accepting, much less rewarding, disregard of the law.” That’s a pretty basic belief.

Ouch. Remember, Deb Saunders writes for the San Francisco Chronicle. She’s witnessed sanctuary city hell first hand. Read the entire essay.