WASHINGTON — At the House Judiciary subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement on Wednesday Republicans and Democrats clashed over whether sanctuary cities should comply with federal orders to detain individuals I.C.E. potentially wants to deport.
Republicans called sanctuary cities an impediment to the mass deportations that the Trump administration has prioritized within its first 100 days of office. But Democrats warned that trust between law enforcement and the community they serve would be eroded when law enforcement complies with ICE, and they spoke about wrongful deportations and the criminalization of the American immigrant.
“We know that when local police act as immigration agents, immigrant communities and their families are less likely to move forward to report a crime when they are a witness or even a victim,” Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) said. “It destroys the trust policy they rely on to preserve public safety and communities.”
The struggle over sanctuary cities came as President Donald Trump has initiated sweeping changes to the treatment of immigrants, both legal and undocumented.
Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Calif.) began the hearing by touting Trump’s record with the border, saying more than 100,000 migrants had been deported under his presidency and border crossings went from 800 a day to 77. “Well, the American people finally had enough,” McClintock said.
While McClintock and other Republican lawmakers portrayed sanctuary cities as protecting violent criminals, ranking member Jayapal and several of her Democratic colleagues questioned how immigrants like Neri Alvarado, who was wrongfully deported to El Salvador from Dallas, have been impacted by the Trump administration’s goal of mass deportations.
“This was done despite him never having been to El Salvador, despite having no gang affiliation and despite having no organized crime connection,” Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) said. “He was deported because I.C.E. has been detaining ‘all Venezuelans with tattoos.’ This type of racial profiling isn’t just a one-off.”
Neill Franklin, a Baltimore police department veteran, said local officials face a dilemma when asked by I.C.E. to detain residents.“The proposed act would put state and local governments in an impossible position of deciding between risking cuts to essential federal programs or risk inviting potential legal action for violating the civil rights of their communities,” said Franklin.
According to Vice President of Chicago Flips Red Danielle Carter-Walters, a witness from Chicago, sanctuary cities use taxpayers money to resettle migrants at the expense of providing for their legal residents. Chicago’s Mayor Brandon Johnson has attempted to resettle thousands of migrants bussed to Illinois by Gov. Greg Abbott since August 2022.
“Lifelong residents are pushed aside, schools are overcrowded, crime is out of control, affordable housing is vanishing,” Carter-Walters said. “It’s organized looting of taxpayer dollars.”
Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García (D-Ill.) said Republicans were specifically citing a handful of violent crimes and painting immigrant communities all as criminals.
“Republicans are here to surprise, surprise, scapegoat immigrants,” Garcia said. “Republicans have lifted up some tragedies that involve immigrants committing a few crimes. This is the exception, not the rule.”
McClintock said the public would be better served if sanctuary cities complied with detainers.
“The Democrats and their witness tell us we’re safer if we release criminals back into our communities. Republicans and their witnesses say the opposite. I think I’ll just let that speak for itself,” he said.
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