Trump Administration Targets 'Sanctuary Jurisdictions' with New Public List

The Department of Homeland Security has issued warnings to over 500 "sanctuary jurisdictions" nationwide, indicating that the Trump administration perceives these areas as hindering immigration law enforcement. This move aims to ramp up pressure on localities deemed obstacles to the president's plan for extensive deportations.

On Thursday, the department released a roster identifying various jurisdictions which would subsequently get official notifications from the government. These communications will inform these areas that their compliance status has been evaluated and indicate potential violations of federal criminal laws. This compilation was made public on Thursday. the department’s website .

"These policymakers in sanctuary cities are putting Americans and our law enforcement at risk in an effort to shield violent criminal undocumented immigrants," stated DHS Secretary Kristi Noem in a press release.

The Trump administration has consistently focused on targeting communities, states, and areas that it claims are not adequately supporting Immigration and Customs Enforcement in its efforts to fulfill President Donald Trump’s campaign promise to deport millions of individuals who are residing in the country unlawfully.

This list was put together considering several criteria: whether the cities or areas declared themselves as sanctuary jurisdictions; their level of adherence to federal regulations concerning immigration law enforcement; whether they imposed limitations on exchanging data with immigration authorities; and if they provided any legal safeguards for individuals residing in the country without proper authorization, as stated by the department.

Trump issued an executive order regarding On April 28, it requires the Secretary of Homeland Security along with the Attorney General to issue an ongoing update of a list identifying states and local areas deemed to be impeding federal immigration laws. This roster must be frequently revised.

The executive order mandates that federal departments and agencies, in collaboration with the Office of Management and Budget, must identify federal grants or contracts allocated to states or local jurisdictions deemed "sanctuary jurisdictions" by the federal government. They would then have to suspend or terminate these funds.

If “sanctuary jurisdictions” are notified and the Trump administration determines that they “remain in defiance,” the attorney general and the secretary of Homeland Security are then empowered to pursue whatever “legal remedies and enforcement measures” they consider necessary to make them comply.

The phrase "sanctuary jurisdiction" does not have an official or legally established meaning. It typically describes places where law enforcement entities, regions, or localities do not collaborate with authorities enforcing immigration laws.

ICE upholds immigration laws across the country, yet frequently requests assistance from state and local entities to notify federal officials about immigrants subject to deportation proceedings. These agencies also sometimes hold individuals until federal agents can assume responsibility for them.

The administration aims to gain backing from state and local entities via 287(g) accords with regional police departments. These pacts enable these local law enforcement bodies to take on certain responsibilities related to immigration oversight, thereby significantly amplifying ICE’s operational scope. Under the Trump administration, the count of such agreements has surged dramatically within mere months.

ICE has about 6,000 law enforcement officers – a number that has remained largely static for years – who are able to find, arrest and remove immigrants it’s targeting. By relying on local law enforcement, it can quickly scale up the number of staff available to help carry out Trump’s mass deportations agenda.

Communities that don’t cooperate with ICE often say they do so because immigrants then feel safer coming forward if they’re a witness to or victim of a crime. And they argue that immigration enforcement is a federal task, and they need to focus their limited dollars on fighting crime.

The Trump administration has already implemented several measures aimed at states and communities that do not work with ICE – and has met pushback In court proceedings, one of President Trump’s executive orders instructs the Attorney General along with the Secretary of Homeland Security to restrict federal funding from sanctuary jurisdictions. A separate directive mandates that federal agencies must guarantee that funds distributed to state and local governments do not support what they term as 'sanctuary' policies aimed at protecting unauthorized immigrants from being deported.

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