This week, sheriffs across the country said that they will not do the legally dubious work of the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement, even as newly sworn-in Attorney General Pam Bondi threatens prosecutions and funding cuts.
Sheriffs in Iowa, New York and North Carolina were among those who said they would not prioritize mass deportations.
Sheriffs in Iowa, New York and North Carolina were among those who said they would not prioritize mass deportations, even after Bondi threatened to cut off federal funds to sanctuary jurisdictions, and acting U.S. Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove took the extraordinary step of calling for an investigation — and possible prosecution — of Tompkins County, New York, Sheriff Derek R. Osborne. At issue there is the court-ordered release of an undocumented immigrant from Sheriff Osborne’s jail. Sheriff Osborne and other Tompkins County officials have affirmed that the sheriff’s office followed all applicable laws, but Bove is attempting to use this case to send a warning to other jurisdictions that limit collaboration with immigration authorities.“We will use every tool at our disposal to prevent sanctuary city policies from impeding and obstructing lawful federal operations,” he said. But the Trump administration has a problem: Local jurisdictions have the legal discretion to make their own decisions on immigration enforcement, and sanctuary policies — which limit collaboration, rather than instructing or impeding federal authorities — are perfectly legal. That’s why the Trump administration is hoping that fear and misinformation, and using threats that violate the Constitution, will cow local leaders into collaboration.
Attacking sanctuary policies like the one in Tompkins County is not only cynical, it’s bad policy. The evidence is clear that, when sheriffs do the job of federal law enforcement, everybody is less safe. People become afraid and less likely to report crimes. Trust decreases in government overall. Immigrants are less likely to send their kids to school.That’s on top of the financial and personnel costs. Law enforcement agencies are having a hard time hiring. Terry Norris, the executive director of the Georgia Sheriffs Association, told NPR, “Georgia sheriffs are like almost every other agency throughout the country. We have a very difficult time hiring deputies and jailers.”
Sheriffs’ jails are often overcrowded, with people dying every day across the country. They can ill afford to focus officers on a federal edict that won’t make their communities safer. Doing the administration’s job diverts local resources that could be used for substance use treatment and mental health support. Finally, immigration enforcement is complicated and increases the risk of wrongful detention, exposing sheriffs to liability and potential litigation.
For these reasons, sheriffs from Iowa to California have affirmed their unwillingness to aid the Trump administration’s efforts, or have pulled back on existing collaboration with immigration authorities. Sheriffs have recommitted their concern for the safety of all residents in their counties, terminated voluntary information sharing and affirmed their commitment to doing only what the law demands on immigration. “Our sole oath and allegiance are to the Constitution and the protection of an individual’s rights,” Winneshiek County Sheriff Dan Marx wrote in a Facebook post in which he vowed not to honor detainer requests from Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
But the Trump administration has decided that it knows better than local law enforcement. The administration needs local law enforcement to reach its deportation goals. During the first Trump administration, 47% of deportations from within the United States went through jails. “To the sheriffs in the room, we need your bed space. We need your 287(g) agreements,” Trump “border czar” Tom Homan told attendees of the National Sheriff Association meeting on Saturday, referring to a program that can grant some immigration enforcement powers to officers in participating local law enforcement agencies. “We need that force-multiplier,” he said.
The Trump administration has decided that it knows better than local law enforcement.
Already, jails in the United States are in a state of crisis. More than 1,000 people die each year, most before they have faced trial. During the Biden administration, ICE took steps, albeit too limited, to make sure people in its custody were safe. In 2021, they revoked a contract with the Bristol, Massachusetts sheriff who was accused of assaulting incarcerated people during a disturbance in the jail. The closure followed a report from the state attorney general that found a “callous disregard for the well-being of immigration detainees” in the facility, citing, among other things, the use of pepper spray, flash bang grenades and dogs.The Trump administration wants to reverse that progress and go further. Homan told the sheriffs on Saturday that he would place people back in jails like Bristol, relaxing conditions under which someone can be held in ICE’s custody. These promises are part of a two-prong strategy: make it easy for sheriffs eager to participate in mass deportations and make other sheriffs believe they have no choice but to collaborate.
In some places, state laws prohibit voluntary cooperation with federal immigration authorities. In other states, the law requires this activity. However, it is clear everywhere that federal law does not require that sheriffs or other local officials participate. These sheriffs do not violate federal law because they are not interfering with immigration enforcement. Under the 10th Amendment’s long-standing “anti-commandeering doctrine,” state and local governments cannot be required to enforce federal immigration law.
Sheriffs and lawmakers who institute these policies are simply making a decision to prioritize other responsibilities — like focusing on the safety of their communities — rather than volunteering deputies to execute immigration authorities’ mandate. They don’t have to do what the Trump administration tells them to do. Despite this, Bove turned to the threat of prosecutions. Because they don’t have the force of law on their side, they hope to rely on the force of fear.In Tompkins County, New York, the sheriff’s office has been very clear that it has acted “consistently with New York State law and judicial decisions, County policy, guidance of the New York Attorney General’s Office, and guidance of the New York State Sheriffs’ Association.” In fact, officials there have argued that rather than any refusal to collaborate, this case was a matter of immigration authorities failing to act in a timely manner. “Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) knew exactly when the individual in question was going to be released and had every opportunity to come to the Tompkins County jail to obtain the individual in question without any need for a pursuit or other incident,” they said in a statement.
The facts on the ground seem to matter little to a DOJ that is more interested in political theater. Their plans for mass deportation will succeed or fail based on whether they can intimidate local law enforcement leaders like Derek Osborne into carrying out their dirty work for them. It’s up to all of us, attorneys and sheriffs and the public, to call them on their empty threats.