IS TIME RUNNING OUT FOR SANCTUARY CITIES? In the end, the conflict between federal immigration authorities and protesters in Minneapolis boiled down to one fundamental policy question: Should sanctuary cities be allowed to exist? Should cities, counties, and states be allowed to prohibit their police from cooperating with the enforcement of federal immigration law, even as those local agencies cooperate with all other law enforcement?
In the wake of Minneapolis, some hardcore Democratic leaders are doubling down on sanctuary policies. This Bloomberg piece summarizes what’s going on. Abigail Spanberger, the new Democratic governor of Virginia, has ordered state authorities to cancel any agreements with the federal government allowing cooperation with immigration enforcement. In New York, Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul is pushing a bill to do the same thing. In New Jersey, new Democratic Gov. Mikie Sherrill has signed an order that, in many situations, will bar federal immigration authorities from state property. And in Maryland, Democratic Gov. Wes Moore is hoping to bar local jails from cooperating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.
Similar things are happening in blue cities, which already had sanctuary policies. In New York, new Democratic Socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani wants to ban ICE agents from almost any city property unless the agents get a judicial warrant. And in Los Angeles, Democratic Mayor Karen Bass has just signed a law with new restrictions on ICE.
No surprises there. Anything to resist the hated Trump. What is striking, though, is at the same moment all that is happening, there is growing cooperation with federal immigration law enforcement elsewhere in the country.
NBC News reports that “agreements between Immigration and Customs Enforcement and local law enforcement that allow officers to make federal immigration arrests have increased by 950 percent in the first year of President Donald Trump’s second term.” The NBC report continues: “As of Jan. 26, there were 1,168 agencies with officers trained to help ICE, up from 135 during the Biden administration and 150 at the end of Trump’s first term.”
The Trump administration has restarted an old program under which local police officers essentially act as ICE deputies, with the authority to arrest people suspected of being in the country illegally. ICE is encouraging local agencies by offering grants for assistance. NBC reports that the states that have the most agencies enrolled in the program are Florida, Texas, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, and Alabama. They’re the anti-sanctuary jurisdictions.
Public opinion seems to be on their side. A Harvard CAPS Harris poll from late January asked, “Do you think that local officials should hand over to immigration authorities criminals in jail who are here illegally, or should state and local officials not turn over criminals for deportation?” Sixty-seven percent of respondents said officials should hand over the criminals, while just 33% said they should not.
The poll also asked, “Do you think that state and local authorities should cooperate or refuse to cooperate with federal immigration authorities on the deportations of criminals?” The answers came out exactly the same — 67% said authorities should cooperate, while 33% said they should not.
There are several bills in Congress, all proposed by Republicans, that would outlaw or sharply limit sanctuary non-cooperation policies. Even if one or more of them make it through Congress — and despite public opinion, it is likely Democrats will fight them tooth and nail — they will surely face court challenges. Still, it could be that the real momentum after Minneapolis is against sanctuary jurisdictions.