Jurisdictions identified as sanctuaries could be eligible to lose federal funding.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on June 1 removed a previously published list of so-called sanctuary jurisdictions across the United States, which were accused of failing to comply with federal immigration law.
The move comes following criticism from a national sheriffs’ group that has mostly been supportive of Trump’s tough-on-crime policy approach.
In a statement, National Sheriffs’ Association President Sheriff Kieran Donahue said, “This list was created without any input, criteria of compliance, or a mechanism for how to object to the designation. Sheriffs nationwide have no way to know what they must do or not do to avoid this arbitrary label.”
On May 29, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, acting under the direction of President Donald Trump, published a list encompassing jurisdictions across 35 states—including city, county, and state government—that Noem said were “endangering Americans and our law enforcement in order to protect violent criminal illegal aliens.”
Following the criticism, the page where the list had been published was taken offline.
According to Donahue, DHS and other officials had not provided sufficient details on the methodology and criteria used to determine which jurisdictions qualified as sanctuaries.
The publication of the list “has not only violated the core principles of trust, cooperation, and partnership with fellow law enforcement, but it also has the potential to strain the relationship between Sheriffs and the White House administration,” the statement said.
During meetings between the group and administration officials, “no political appointee for the administration could explain who compiled, proofed, and verified the list before publication,” Donahue said.
The list came in response to an April 28 executive order signed by Trump requesting that the DHS produce “a list of States and local jurisdictions that obstruct the enforcement of Federal immigration laws.” Jurisdictions identified as sanctuaries could be eligible to lose federal funding.
In some cases, entire states were marked sanctuaries, including California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington, as well as the District of Columbia.
By Joseph Lord
