The Department of Justice has identified nearly three dozen cities and states across the country on Tuesday that it said were sanctuaries for illegal immigrants and warned that it planned to take legal action against more of those jurisdictions. Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement the cities and states, which mostly lean blue, have immigration policies that “impede law enforcement and put American citizens at risk by design.”
The DOJ’s list includes four states—California, New York, Colorado, and Illinois—along with other jurisdictions such as Delaware, Nevada, Minnesota, and Washington, D.C. In Illinois, a federal judge dismissed the DOJ’s lawsuit, arguing that the state’s policies are protected by the Constitution and that the DOJ’s claim encroached on Illinois’ sovereignty. Despite this setback, the DOJ has seen some success with its legal threats, such as in Louisville, Kentucky, where the mayor modified the city’s immigration policy to be more cooperative with federal authorities.
Other cities on the DOJ’s radar include Boston, New Orleans, Seattle, and Philadelphia, with four counties also on the list. The core issue is detainer policies, where ICE requests jails to hold illegal immigrants for potential arrest. Sanctuary jurisdictions typically ignore these notices. In Louisville, the mayor has agreed to honor ICE’s 48-hour request to hold suspects, showing a shift towards cooperation with federal authorities. This move signals the DOJ’s continued efforts to crack down on sanctuary jurisdictions and enforce immigration policies to protect American citizens.