U.S. Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., on Thursday introduced a bill to “end sanctuary cities” by conditioning federal funding on cooperation with federal immigration and law enforcement and “protect law enforcement” by imposing penalties of up to five years in prison for “anyone who obstructs, impedes, inhibits, stymies, hinders, hampers, or interferes with any federal law enforcement officer engaged in official duties.”
Officials in “sanctuary” jurisdictions, meanwhile, doubled down on policies ensuring immigrants can access city services and report crimes without fear of revealing their immigration status and restricting federal law enforcement officers’ actions and access to municipal property.
New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Friday signed an executive order, Protecting New Yorkers from Abusive Immigration Enforcement, declaring the city “is committed to protecting all New Yorkers, regardless of immigration status, by ensuring public safety, safeguarding City property, and protecting personal identifying information.”
The executive order prohibits Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers from entering New York City property — including schools, shelters and hospitals — without a judicial warrant. It also enhances privacy protections to prevent the federal government from accessing residents’ data, requires a public safety audit be submitted to the mayor to ensure agencies are complying and creates an interagency committee to coordinate policy “in the event of a major crisis.”
At their state convention on Friday, New York Democrats unanimously backed a New York State Democratic Committee resolution supporting ICE restructuring and backing the New York for All Act, legislation that would restrict state and local participation in immigration enforcement, limit information sharing with immigration authorities and establish procedures for state and local agencies when dealing with federal immigration authorities.
Two Massachusetts cities last week moved to reaffirm their commitments to “sanctuary” policies. Northampton released a statement reaffirming its “commitment to inclusion and sanctuary in response to a marked escalation in federal immigration enforcement across the country.” In Somerville — which is involved in ongoing litigation challenging Trump administration threats to defund “sanctuary” cities — Mayor Jake Wilson on Friday signed an executive order stating, “The City’s Welcoming Community Ordinance makes clear that the City’s finite resources are to be used to provide municipal services to the Somerville community, and not for the purpose of enforcing civil immigration laws."
Schmitt said in a statement Thursday that his plan is necessary “as we sit at the inflection point between two competing visions for our country.”
In a social media post Saturday, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., encouraged the Senate to take up Schmitt’s bill as well as his own, introduced Jan. 29, which he said in a statement would “end the practice of sanctuary cities once and for all.” Graham announced Jan. 30 that Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., committed to support a vote on the legislation.
Graham chairs the Senate Budget Committee overseeing immigration-related funding conditions on cities and states and serves on the Appropriations Committee that writes annual spending bills and the Judiciary Committee that presides over immigration and naturalization law.
In his Saturday post, Graham also said he believes the Senate should debate legislative actions to rein in ICE that were laid out in a Feb. 4 letter by House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. The Democrats are demanding that federal immigration agents unmask, use judicial warrants, wear body cameras and establish a uniform code of conduct with state cooperation in investigations.
Lawmakers must strike a deal to fund the Department of Homeland Security by Friday to avoid a shutdown of the agencies DHS oversees, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
