During a rally in Wilmington, North Carolina, Donald Trump vowed to crack down on crimes committed by illegal immigrants in major US cities, pledging to eliminate sanctuary cities if he secures another term in office.

"Today, I'm announcing a new plan to end all sanctuary cities in North Carolina and all across our country," Trump declared at the rally.

"As soon as I take office, we will immediately surge federal law enforcement to every city which is failing, which is a lot of them, to turn over criminal aliens," Trump told his supporters. "We will hunt down and capture every single gang member, drug dealer, rapist, murderer, and migrant criminal that is being illegally harbored.” He also criticized the leadership in large urban areas, claiming that the nation’s top 25 cities are all run by Democrats, and promised to restore law and order to these areas.

"I will ask Congress to pass a law outlawing Sanctuary Cities nationwide and we will bring down the full weight of the federal government on any jurisdiction that refuses to cooperate with ICE and Border Patrol," Trump continued.

Sanctuary cities are municipalities that adopt policies limiting cooperation with federal immigration enforcement. These cities often refuse to share individuals' immigration statuses with federal authorities and decline to hand over those arrested for other crimes to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) when ICE issues detainer requests.

Trump’s continued tough stance on immigration comes amid several high-profile instances of individuals in the country illegally carrying out violent acts of crime.

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