WASHINGTON—Despite sensational rhetoric by sanctuary politicians about opposing Trump Administration deportation efforts, a new investigative report from the Immigration Reform Law Institute (IRLI) says there is very little these jurisdictions can actually do to thwart federal immigration enforcement.
Since beginning his second term on January 20, President Trump has moved swiftly to implement the enhanced deportation of illegal aliens that he promised during the 2024 presidential campaign. This has generated pushback from sanctuary mayors such as Brandon Johnson in Chicago and Mike Johnston in Denver, who are vowing not to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents conducting operations in their cities. Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey has gone further, promising to “use every tool in the toolbox” to protect illegal aliens.
In its report, IRLI shows how, legally, this opposition is little more than bluster. The report fully explains how the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution gives the federal government exclusive authority to regulate immigration. Because of this, states cannot pass any laws that offer protection from deportation to illegal aliens, visa overstayers or other immigration violators.
“Sanctuary laws have always been in defiance to the Constitution, and this report explains clearly why that is so,” said Dale L. Wilcox, IRLI’s executive director and general counsel. “These sanctuary politicians may feel the need to publicly oppose the Trump White House’s deportation policies to satisfy those who put them in office, but in the final analysis, the law is not on their side.”
“State and local jurisdictions can saber rattle all they want, but the Supreme Court has spoken on this issue repeatedly: immigration enforcement belongs to the federal government,” said Matt O’Brien, director of investigations at IRLI. “There is very little meaningful action that state and local governments can take to frustrate President Trump’s immigration enforcement plans.”
