Will 'sanctuary' cities come under attack by Trump?

WASHINGTON - Republican President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to launch the largest deportation effort in American history when he returns to the White House on Jan. 20.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security estimated there were 11 million immigrants without legal status in 2022.

Threats of a similar crackdown during Trump's first term as U.S. president from 2017 to 2021 sparked a widespread response among some city, county and state officials who pledged to provide "sanctuary" to local immigrant populations.

What is a sanctuary?

The label applies to cities, states and localities that have laws, policies or regulations that make it harder for federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to track down and arrest immigrants they believe have grounds for deportation.

Sanctuary policies implemented by cities from Chicago and New York to San Francisco and Los Angeles limit cooperation with ICE, making it harder for undocumented migrants to be arrested and deported.

However, there is no official definition of a sanctuary, and levels of cooperation vary from place to place.

U.S. immigration laws are federal and thus enforceable everywhere in the country, and federal agencies would be tasked with carrying out Trump's agenda of mass deportations.

Yet these efforts would depend significantly on local law enforcement and other local authorities to do that work on the ground.

"Until now, any kind of interior enforcement in the U.S. immigration system has relied heavily on state and local authorities," said Nayna Gupta, policy director with the non-profit American Immigration Council.

"That means states and localities do have the power and ability to protect immigrant communities from this kind of aggressive immigration enforcement," she said.

Today, 13 states and more than 200 cities and counties have sanctuary laws or policies of some kind on the books, according to the Center for Immigration Studies.

How can sanctuaries block mass deportation efforts?

Federal immigration officers still operate in sanctuary jurisdictions, but with less assistance from local law enforcement.

Limiting cooperation with federal immigration officials could include capping the participation of local law enforcement in certain immigration investigations or related detentions and denying ICE agents access to jails.

It can also mean not sharing information on the migration status of individuals with federal officials, unless it involves investigation of a serious crime, or curbing the amount of time that an individual could be held in local detention while federal officials investigate their immigration status.

"There is no question that sanctuary policies will slow ICE down in removing criminal aliens," said Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies at the Center for Immigration Studies.

"But the sanctuary policies are more of a speed bump for ICE than an obstacle," she said.

Over the past decade, up to three-quarters of arrests by ICE agents within the United States have been from "handoffs" from another law enforcement agency, whether a local or state agency, or from a federal prison, said Gupta.

Still, many of the policies on the books are not particularly strong, she said. Just two states, Illinois and Oregon, have comprehensive laws that restrict the transfer of people from localities to ICE. A few other states have substantial limitations but still allow for such transfers.

How can Trump place pressure on sanctuaries?

Republicans in Congress have repeatedly sought to create penalties for cities or states that enact sanctuary policies.

One current bill, the No Bailout for Sanctuary Cities Act, would prohibit sanctuary jurisdictions from receiving federal funding that could be used for undocumented immigrants and has dozens of co-sponsors.

During Trump's second term, cities that hope to receive a slice of the U.S Justice Department's $291 million justice assistance grant program will likely have to agree to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement.

Multiple states have also passed laws to prohibit local authorities from hindering immigration actions.

"I expect that the Trump administration will take action to incentivize cooperation with ICE, and Congress potentially could act too," Vaughan said.

In Massachusetts, a state with eight sanctuary cities, Democratic Governor Maura Healey said that "every tool in the toolbox is going to be used to protect our citizens."

But she warned: "It's important that we all recognize that there's going to be a lot of pressure on states and state officials."

(Reporting by Carey L. Biron in Washington; Editing by Anastasia Moloney and Ayla Jean Yackley.)