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President Donald Trump announced formal plans Wednesday to build a wall along the Mexican border. If you knew a neighbor or co-worker to be in the country illegally, would you turn them in?

Cambridge, Boston, Somerville and other sanctuary cities found themselves in President Donald Trumps crosshairs Wednesday.

Trump, who has railed against illegal immigration on the campaign trail, signed executive orders Wednesday to jump-start construction of a wall on the Mexican border and to strip federal grant funding from sanctuary cities communities that have official policies designed to restrict cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.

Sanctuary jurisdictions across the United States willfully violate Federal law in an attempt to shield aliens from removal from the United States. These jurisdictions have caused immeasurable harm to the American people and to the very fabric of our Republic, the executive order states.

The term sanctuary cities is informal, and specific policies may vary from community to community. Sanctuary city policies typically state that municipal officials will not honor detainment requests unless federal immigration agents have a criminal warrant, or there is a legitimate law enforcement reason for detainment besides a persons immigration status.

Massachusetts communities that have passed sanctuary city policies include Cambridge, Boston, Somerville, Amherst, Northampton and Springfield.

Somerville Mayor Joseph Curtatone said Wednesday that being a sanctuary city does not break any existing laws.

Sanctuary means that our local police and agencies do not and will not profile our residents to run immigration checks on them, he said.

He vowed that Somerville wont back down on the issue.

"If we have to make a stand for the constitution, we will make that stand, he said. If we have to make a stand for the facts and the falsehoods, we will make that stand. Tearing our communities apart serves to only tear them down.

Boston Mayor Marty Walsh said he was deeply disturbed by Trumps actions.

We will not back down from our values that make us who we are as a city, Walsh said in a statement. We will fight for our residents, whether immigrant or not, and provide the best quality of life for all Bostonians. I will use all of my power within lawful means to protect all Boston residents even if that means using City Hall itself as a last resort.

On the campaign trail, Trump frequently called for increasing border security, spoke about crimes committed by undocumented immigrants and advocated for mass deportations. The executive order he signed Wednesday stated that immigrants living in the country illegally pose a significant threat to national security and public safety.

According to the Center for Immigration Studies, a think tank that advocates for restricting immigration, there were roughly 300 sanctuary cities that rejected more than 17,000 detention requests from Jan. 1, 2014 through Sept. 30, 2015.

Supporters of sanctuary city policies say they can encourage undocumented immigrants who are the victims of crimes to come forward to police without fear of deportation, enhancing public safety. They also argue that deportations may tear apart families and lead to racial profiling.

Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey characterized Trumps executive order as reckless.

Strong, independently-governed communities are part of what makes Massachusetts great, Healey said in a statement. The Presidents executive order is an irresponsible attempt to coerce our communities into conducting his mass deportations, and would impact all residents by stripping federal funding for roads, schools, police, health care, the elderly, and assistance for those in need. My office will be watching closely and I will be ready to stand with our cities and towns in the coming days.

U.S. Rep Joe Kennedy III called Trumps orders the actions of a scared government, not a strong one. He called for lawmakers to undo his damage.

A great nation does not wall itself in. A confident nation does not close its door to the people that need her protection most, Kennedy said in a statement. A tolerant nation does not target children who have only known her streets or retaliate against communities that protect their neighbors. And a nation built on the sweat and sacrifice of generations of immigrant families does not take that patriotism for granted.

Katie Bowler of the Somerville Journal contributed to this report.

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DAILY POLL: Illegal immigration - The Patriot Ledger