Federal and state officials are eyeing legislation that would allow state officials to punish local officials for following so-called “sanctuary cities” policies that encourage non-cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) removal requests.
Sanctuary cities limit cooperation between local law enforcement and federal authorities concerning requests to remove illegal immigrants accused of misdemeanor or felony crimes.
On a federal level, Republican U.S. lawmakers on Jan. 25 re-introduced legislation called the “Justice for Victims of Sanctuary Cities Act” that would allow victims harmed by illegal immigrant crime to sue sanctuary cities.
“Sanctuary cities have shielded many of the nearly 650,000 criminal illegal immigrants in the United States from facing the consequences for their violent crimes against innocent Americans for too many years,” North Carolina Rep. Chuck Edwards said in a statement last month. “Sanctuary cities cannot continue to jeopardize Americans’ safety without being held accountable for their role in the illegal immigrant crime crisis we are facing today.”
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Rep. Chuck Edwards, R-N.C., leaves a House Republican Conference candidate forum for speaker meeting in Longworth Building on Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2023. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)
He added that the bill “will finally hold these communities responsible when their harmful, illegal policies result in a crime against an American citizen, and will allow the victim to take legal action against counties, cities, or towns for the dangerous policies that directly led to their harm.”
North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis said Americans in his state and across the country have witnessed certain locales “ignore the lawful notification and detainer requests made by ICE agents and instead release dangerous criminals back into their communities, putting innocent lives at risk.”
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Federal authorities, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Homeland Security Investigations, have been conducting raids across the United States since President Donald Trump took office. (ICE)
“I am committed to working with President Trump to end illegal immigration and fight sanctuary cities that prioritize reckless, lawless policies over public safety. It is clear that liberal politicians want to put political ideology ahead of the safety of their constituents,” Tillis said. “It is time for Congress to step in and hold sanctuary cities accountable.”
“It is clear that liberal politicians want to put political ideology ahead of the safety of their constituents.”
On a state level, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee just passed a bill that establishes a “centralized immigration enforcement division” within the state’s Department of Public Safety and Homeland Security to crack down on illegal immigration and allow state authorities to charge local officials who adopt or maintain sanctuary city policies.
The bill would also allow the Tennessee attorney general to initiate removal proceedings for officials convicted of violating anti-sanctuary city provisions.
Gov. Bill Lee discusses speaks to the press on Oct. 2, 2024, in Nashville, Tenn. (Mark Zaleski / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)
“This week, in partnership with the General Assembly, Tennessee passed meaningful legislation to address three pressing issues that President Trump and Tennesseans overwhelmingly support – the Education Freedom Act, additional disaster relief for East Tennesseans, and measures to halt illegal immigration,” Lee said in a statement, thanking other state leaders “for acting swiftly to pass conservative policies that will guarantee opportunity, security, and freedom for the people of our state.”
Sanctuary city supporters argue that immigration enforcement is the job of the federal government, not local authorities.
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Sanctuary city supporters argue that immigration enforcement is the job of the federal government, not local authorities. (Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times )
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, for example, recently announced his commitment to shielding the city’s undocumented migrant population from federal immigration crackdowns, citing concerns about community safety and strained resources.
“I find it unconscionable that this administration would attempt to create not just division but fear within our public schools,” Johnson said, referring to potential federal raids. He directed city departments to “stand firm and uphold the local ordinance” in compliance with the Illinois Trust Act, which prohibits local law enforcement from assisting federal immigration enforcement efforts.
Flanked by city officials, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson holds a press conference after he was asked, along with other mayors, to appear before congress to discuss the city’s sanctuary city program on Jan. 28, 2025 in Chicago, Illinois. According to city officials more than 100 immigrants have been taken into custody in Chicago and the surrounding area since President Donald Trump took office. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Opponents of sanctuary cities say their policies harbor criminals.
James Hayes, vice president at Guidepost Solutions and a former U.S. Border Patrol agent in Del Rio, Texas, and former Homeland Security special agent in Los Angeles, told Fox News Digital that “violence wrought by dangerous, foreign-born criminal aliens should be motivation enough for sanctuary cities to cooperate with ICE’s efforts to identify and remove these threats from the community and the country.”
“Since it has not been, the federal government and some states are forced to devise creative incentives to entice some cooperation by reducing law enforcement grant funding and funding for non-essential services for residents of sanctuary cities,” Hayes said. “Legislation allowing victims of crimes committed by illegal aliens who have been shielded by sanctuary city policies to bring lawsuits for restitution may force sanctuary city leaders to reconsider the impact of not cooperating with ICE.”
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, along with other federal law enforcement agencies, attend a pre-enforcement meeting in Chicago, Illinois on Sunday, Jan. 26, 2025. (Christopher Dilts/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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José Gustavo Arocha, senior fellow at the national security think tank The Center for a Secure Free Society, told Fox News Digital that they “harm the community” by offering a safe shelter to criminal illegal immigrants like members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua (TdA)
Arocha was a lieutenant colonel from the Venezuelan Army who fled the country in 2015.
Map of Tren de Aragua presence in the United States as of December 2024. (Fox News Digital)
TdA members “look for places where they control the territory,” he said, where there is “no communication with ICE” and gang members “can control the communication.”
“[Gang members] think about sanctuary cities will let them get away with more criminal activity.”
“People live here in the United States because of the rule of law. It means safety and freedom,” Arocha said, adding that there is overlap between some sanctuary cities and cities that voted to “defund the police” in 2020.
Arocha added that to uphold the rule of law in the United States, there needs to be “communication between institutions,” otherwise businesses, families and legal immigrants will suffer the consequences of illegal immigrants who commit crimes but are not detained by ICE.
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Fox News’ Louis Casiano and Madison Colombo contributed to this report.
