70 Chapter 3Chapter 3 || Federa lismFedera lism3
A few days after assuming office in January 2017, President Trump signed an
executive order that threatened to withhold federal funds and grants from so-called
sanctuary cities: generally speaking, cities with policies that limit the cooperation
that may take place between local law-enforcement officials and the federal agency
for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as it works to seek out and deport
undocumented immigrants. The Justice Department criticized Chicago, New York, and
other cities for these policies, which it argued are “putting the well-being of criminal
aliens before the safety of our citizens.”^1
In response, police chiefs and mayors of sanctuary cities argued that they were
simply enforcing local laws and that the president did not have the authority to force
them to comply. The Trump administration wanted localities to undertake aggressive
campaigns to find and deport their undocumented residents, even though many local
governments believed such efforts were a waste of scarce resources. Sam Liccardo,
mayor of San Jose, California, claimed, “[O]ur police chief is the best person to decide
how to use the scarce resources we have.... Our police department, like most, doesn’t
engage in federal tax laws, federal environmental laws or federal immigration laws.”
New York City mayor Bill de Blasio maintained that complying with Trump’s order mayShould the government seek out
and deport otherwise law-abiding
illegal residents? While individual
Americans disagree about this
question, the states and the federal
government also disagree about the
states’ role in implementing federal
immigration policies. In December
2017, protesters in New York City
called on state officials to prohibit
ICE agents from entering state
courthouses.“We don’t go after people who don’t pay their taxes on time, and we don’t
enforce EPA regulations, so it’s the same thing with immigration.
Immigration has always been a federal responsibility, and we don’t have
the expertise or resources for that.”
Lieutenant Peter Davidov, Montgomery County, Maryland, Police“So-called sanctuary policies make all of us less safe because they
intentionally undermine our laws and protect illegal aliens who have
committed crimes.”
Attorney General Jeff SessionsFederalism
States or the federal
government: who’s
got the power?
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