From the New York Times, I'm Michael Barbaro. This is the Daily.

Today, the return of the Sanctuary City. As the Trump administration cracks down on undocumented

immigrants, major American cities from New York to Birmingham are once again offering themselves

up as safe havens. We trace the sanctuary movement all the way back to its unexpected beginnings,

a Presbyterian minister in Arizona. It's Thursday, March 9.

In the national debate over immigration, one phrase keeps popping up.

Outrage about San Francisco's so-called sanctuary city policy issue, so-called sanctuary cities.

Sanctuary cities are pushing back against President Trump's executive orders on immigration.

Sanctuary city.

The directive signed today by President Trump include revoking federal funds from so-called

sanctuary cities which are said to protect undocumented immigrants. Around the country,

dozens of cities across America that protect illegal and do not report them.

City officials are openly defying President Trump's plan to find,

detain and deport immigrants who have entered the United States illegally.

In California, immigrants are an integral part of who we are and what we become.

And the President, in turn, is now threatening to punish those cities by taking away federal funds.

Bigger cities like Boston, Chicago, and New York are all at risk of losing billions of dollars in aid.

This big national fight, it started-

Well, I mean, it started literally in the sanctuary of a church.

Scott Michaels is a producer at Retro Report, which tells the stories behind the news.

He dug into the history of sanctuary cities.

The story starts in 1985 with a group of refugees in search of safety.

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