MEarlier this month, Denver Mayor Ike Johnston joined local leaders in left-leaning cities across the country to protest the incoming Trump administration’s planned mass deportation efforts.
He told local outlet Denverite that Denver police will be “stationed at the county line” to prevent federal authorities from entering. “It’s like Tiananmen Square with roses and guns, right?” he said. He later retracted his comments about the use of local police, but said he still protested against deportation and was even willing to go to jail for it.
“I’m not afraid of it and I’m not looking for it,” he told 9News.
Tom Homan, President Donald Trump’s “border czar,” said that’s one area where he and Johnston agree. “He’s going to go to jail. I’m going to put him in jail,” Homan told FOX on Tuesday.
The ebb and flow is a sign of what’s to come, as liberal cities and states plan to oppose President Trump’s mass deportation plan. This resistance is likely to be met with a backlash from President Trump, who could withhold federal funds or arrest local leaders who stand in his way, as Mr. Homan threatened. Trump’s team is reportedly exploring ways the president could unilaterally remove federal funds from Democratic cities that don’t comply with the deportation plan.
Such heights are not new for some cities. Some states introduced so-called “sanctuary city” policies before the Trump administration’s first term, pledging not to assist federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents who seek to detain or deport immigrants. Additionally, some have programs that provide assistance to immigrants and manage the data they collect about undocumented immigrants.
Other cities and states have chosen to cooperate with agents by providing them with information and resources to identify and detain immigrants, and some state laws prohibit cities from adopting sanctuary policies. is prohibited. Texas, for example, has offered federal land as a deportation facility.
Local authorities hope sanctuary policies will slow deportations and deter immigration authorities from targeting their communities, where operations encounter organized resistance and are more costly. I am doing it.
“They’re effective, and that’s why the Trump administration hates them,” said Noreen Shah, deputy director of government affairs at the American Civil Liberties Union. “The Biden administration doesn’t like these policies either.”
Trump and his appointees have signaled a stronger and more expansive deportation plan for his second term, but have not provided details on what that would look like. President Trump has said he will use the military to carry out deportations, and flashy attacks are likely in Democratic cities that rebel against him.
ICE has limited resources and has historically preferred to carry out raids in areas where it has local cooperation, but President Trump has sought to deport people from cities that oppose deportation even in his first term. It was. Immigration advocates hope to combine these two strategies, holding some showdowns in “sanctuary” locations as a show of force.
“Some of the raids are going to be in red states where they have a lot of support from state and local law enforcement because that just helps them hit their target numbers. ” said Shah. “They’re also going to want to make people feel very scared and very unsafe in blue states. They’re going to try to create a sense that there’s no safe sanctuary. . That’s part of their game too. So I don’t think they should be comfortable in any part of this country.”
what are cities doing
Across the country, mayors and city councils are debating how to protect local immigrants from mass deportation campaigns. While cities cannot stop federal authorities from deporting people, they cannot, depending on state law, deny access to local resources or volunteer information to assist in these efforts. can.
The Los Angeles City Council approved the sanctuary policy earlier this month, with one council member saying the city would “strengthen its defenses” against Trump.
Homan spoke to the city on Newsmax. “If you don’t want to help, just get out of there,” he told right-wing media. “If we have to send twice as many police officers to Los Angeles because we can’t get help, that’s what we’re going to do. We got the mandate. President Trump is seriously thinking about this. I’m serious about this. This will happen without you.”
Trump is promising mass deportations on day one, and we are preparing to protect our communities from day one.
Carlos Ramirez Rosa, Chicago City Councilman
Democratic leaders in Chicago have resumed training similar to what local communities experienced during President Trump’s first term. The training is designed to teach people how to spot and respond to immigration enforcement actions.
Chicago City Councilman Carlos Ramirez Rosa said nearly 600 people participated in the local training in mid-November, six times the number from the first training in 2017. The group also said it is starting earlier.
“President Trump promised mass deportations on day one, and we are prepared to protect our communities from day one.”
During President Trump’s first term, hundreds of people in Ramirez-Rosa were prepared to fight against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) using tactics such as bicycle squads, but at the time was not necessary. Still, he said organizing could act as a deterrent to immigration officials seeking the lowest possible cost and ease of work. “Ultimately, an organized community is the safest community,” Ramirez-Rosa said.
Slowing down the pace of deportations means fewer people are deported, but he acknowledges there are limits to the policy’s effectiveness. “At the end of the day, there’s nothing stopping federal immigration agents from coming into your community, pulling people in, knocking on people’s doors. No local law may prohibit you from doing so.
He said local officials should not only make sure their policies are ready when Trump takes office, but also prepare communities to organize and engage in nonviolent civil disobedience in opposition to deportations. He said that. Also, what local resources will be leveraged to assist immigrants through legal clinics and cash assistance, while being mindful of the data collected and how federal authorities can access it to locate and deport immigrants. He said it was necessary to consider whether it could be done.
“We need to really think about how we, as residents, as Americans, use our collective strengths to protect our immigrant neighbors,” Ramirez-Rosa said. “When an ice vehicle comes into our neighborhood, do we surround it? These are all risks that Americans, especially, should consider at this time. But of course, we do it in a strategic, organized and peaceful way. By doing so, we can actually reduce harm, especially to undocumented immigrants.”
What can President Trump do about this?
After declaring a national emergency, President Trump said he would mobilize the military to help carry out a mass deportation campaign. The use of military forces in particular would raise many legal issues.
“The use of military at home should concern us all, but the Trump administration is willing to do so much harm simply by using state and local law enforcement as a force multiplier for mass deportations,” Shah said. There is a possibility.” “So it’s going to be important to cut off access as much as possible. It slows them down. It hinders their ability to act at the scale and speed they want.”
The Trump administration will likely seek to deny federal funding to cities and states to encourage cooperation. One idea floated in the conservative manifesto Project 2025 is the use of federal emergency aid grants as a way to force cities to detain illegal immigrants and share sensitive data with the federal government for immigration enforcement purposes. asked for an injunction.
The second Trump administration begins buoyed by a landslide victory in the Electoral College and a U.S. Supreme Court ruling granting the president immunity from criminal prosecution for acts committed in his official capacity.
But the Trump administration’s expanded powers still require support from Congress. Shah said the key will be whether Congress agrees to take funding away from cities that don’t want to participate in deportation efforts.
“We will be firing on all cylinders and answering their blitzkrieg policies with our own blitzkrieg.”
