Sanctuary cities: What they are and why they're targeted in Trump's immigration crackdown
In Trump's first week in office, the Justice Department issued a memo calling for investigations into state and local law enforcement officials who don't comply with the administration's immigration policies.
'Sanctuary jurisdictions aren't going to stop what we're going to do,' Thomas D. Homan, Trump's 'border czar,' told NewsNation in December.
But there is no official definition of a sanctuary city, or 'safe place.' Rather, the term can refer to cities, counties or states that have policies limiting collaboration between federal immigration enforcement with local and state governments.
No local or state government can legally prevent federal authorities from detaining and deporting people living in the country undocumented.
Sanctuary policies essentially say the federal government can't compel local jurisdictions to take part in immigration enforcement, which is usually the job of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
For example, many sanctuary cities don't require a local jail to enforce an 'immigration detainer' issued by federal authorities to hold someone after bail is posted so agents can come pick them up.
Here are some of the common sanctuary policies around the country:
Restrict local law enforcement from making arrests for federal immigration violations
Prohibit local officials from entering agreements with ICE
Prevent local jails from holding immigrants while waiting for ICE
Prohibit immigration detention centers from being built
Offer English-language classes
Restrict police or other public officials from asking about immigration status
Ensure equal access to bail for immigrants
Issue municipal identification documents and driver's licenses to all residents
Most have to do with limiting the requirement for local law enforcement to share immigration status with ICE, unless it involves the investigation of a serious crime, according to Global Refuge.
Florida bans all kinds of sanctuary jurisdictions.
Florida requires 'state and local governments and law enforcement agencies … to support and cooperate with federal immigration enforcement,' according to SB 168, entitled Federal Immigration Enforcement, which Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law in 2019.
"We won't allow someone here illegally to commit criminal misconduct and simply be returned to our communities," DeSantis said at the time.
Among its many provisions, the law allows courts to reduce an undocumented defendant's sentence by 12 days to allow federal immigration authorities to pick them up.
The bill does not provide any funding or reimbursement for its enforcement.
The central argument for sanctuary policies is they allow local governments more autonomy and help them build trust within their communities.
If teachers, public health workers and police officers are seen as an extension of federal authorities, it might make it harder to provide services, according to the American Immigration Council.
For example, immigrants, both citizens and undocumented, may not want to come forward to report a crime if they fear deportation. This brought police chiefs and local leaders in 2023 to testify before Congress that working with ICE erodes trust in their communities.
Research shows sanctuary counties have lower crime rates than other counties. A Cambridge study also found immigrants are 60% less likely to be incarcerated than all U.S.-born men.
Because the definition of sanctuary cities varies, it can be a challenge to count how many jurisdictions have this status. There are 220 sanctuary cities and counties in the U.S., according to the Center for Immigration Studies, a 'low-immigration, pro-immigrant' think tank. Here are the closest sanctuary cities to Florida:
New Orleans, Louisiana
Atlanta, Georgia
Douglas County, Georgia
DeKalb County, Georgia
Athens-Clarke County, Georgia
Columbia County, Georgia
Charleston County, South Carolina
The term sanctuary city doesn't always apply to immigration.
The first city to claim this status was Berkeley, California, in 1971, when it declared itself a safe place for Navy members who resisted the Vietnam War.
Sanctuary cities then shifted toward immigration in the 1980s when six churches around the country opened their doors to refugees fleeing war in Central America.
What became known as the Sanctuary Movement was a rebuttal to the nation's refusal to receive people fleeing Cold War-era repressive regimes.
On a local level: Local law enforcement steps up efforts to partner with feds on immigration, other issues
Partnering with federal authorities: The role of local law enforcement in Trump administration immigration crackdown
U.S. churches were once deemed off limits for immigration raids due to their 'sensitive status,' including schools and public health care facilities.
Trump ended those protections during his first days in office.
Jack Lemnus is a TCPalm enterprise reporter. Contact him at jack.lemnus@tcpalm.com, 772-409-1345, or follow him on X @JackLemnus.
This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Immigration crackdown: Here's how Florida handles 'sanctuary cities'
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