Dive Brief:
- The Trump administration removed a list of more than 500 “sanctuary” states, cities and counties it had posted on Friday.
- The U.S. Conference of Mayors, the National Sheriffs Association and several cities on the list released public statements pushing back against it.
- Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said on Fox News Sunday the list “is absolutely continuing to be used.”
Dive Insight:
President Trump signed an executive order April 28 directing the attorney general and DHS to publish a list of states and local jurisdictions that “obstruct the enforcement of Federal immigration laws,” pursue legal remedies to bring them into compliance and identify federal grants and contracts to these cities that could be suspended or terminated.
“These sanctuary city politicians are endangering Americans and our law enforcement in order to protect violent criminal illegal aliens,” U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in a May 29 statement.
On a website page that was published Friday and then unpublished over the weekend, DHS listed more than 500 cities, counties and states that it said were “deliberately and shamefully obstructing the enforcement of federal immigration laws endangering American communities.” The page said the sanctuary jurisdictions were determined by “compliance with federal law enforcement, information restrictions, and legal protections for illegal aliens.”
Law enforcement and city leaders disputed the administration’s claims and criticized the list. National Sheriffs’ Association President Kieran Donahue released a statement Saturday saying the list was “created without any input, criteria of compliance, or a mechanism for how to object to the designation.”
Donahue added that the list could strain relationships among sheriffs and the administration. “This is an unfortunate and unnecessary erosion of unity and collaboration with law enforcement and the enforcement of the rule of law at a time when that unity is needed most” he said.
The U.S. Conference of Mayors also took issue with the administration’s action, calling it “a clear overreach of federal authority that not only undermines local autonomy but also threatens public safety and essential services that benefit all city residents” in a statement issued Friday.
Some jurisdictions, such as Las Vegas and Warren County, Ohio, disputed their inclusion on the list.
In a press release, Huntington Beach, California, Mayor Pat Burns said the City Council had passed a resolution formally declaring Huntington Beach a non-sanctuary city. The press release states that Santa Ana, the only city in California’s Orange County to publicly declare itself a sanctuary city, was not on the list.
Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott said on X that his municipality “is not a sanctuary city, because we do not have jurisdiction over our jails.” But, he added, “we are a welcoming city, and we make no apologies for that.”
Aurora, Colorado, which became a political focal point for Trump’s claims about immigrant crime during the campaign, was among a handful of cities removed from the list before it was taken down, Aurora City Council member Danielle Jurinsky said in a post on X.
