Tag: sanctuary cities

Trump DOJ Puts Sanctuary States on Notice: ALL State Agencies Receiving Federal Food Stamp and Social Security Assistance Funds Must Report Known Illegal Aliens to DHS Under Welfare Reform Law Passed by Congress in 1996

The Department of Justice just ripped up a 28-year Clinton-era legal dodge that let sanctuary states hide illegal aliens from federal immigration authorities while collecting billions in welfare money meant for American families.

On Tuesday, the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) issued a formal opinion holding that when a state takes Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) funds, the entire state government, not just the welfare office, must report to the Department of Homeland Security any person the state knows is not lawfully present in the United States.

That is not a new law. That is the 1996 welfare-reform statute Congress actually wrote. The Clinton Justice Department simply pretended it said something else.

“Congress wrote this requirement plainly,” said Assistant Attorney General T. Elliot Gaiser, who leads OLC. “When a state chooses to participate in TANF, it accepts the obligation to report illegal aliens in the United States. Tax dollars intended to help vulnerable Americans should not perversely encourage illegal entry into the United States, but rather should reinforce our laws and our borders.”

Deputy Assistant Attorney General Joshua Craddock, the author of the opinion, was even blunter: the new guidance “does not impose new obligations on states.” It “simply restores the original meaning of the statute Congress enacted.” States that take the money “must abide by federal law, and failure to comply may lead to serious consequences, including loss of program funding.”

All 50 states, the District of Columbia, and several U.S. territories take TANF and SSI. Federal TANF block grants alone exceed $16.4 billion a year.

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Obama-Appointed Judge Hands Sanctuary City a Win, Throws Out Trump DOJ Lawsuit Against Rochester — Rules Federal Law Can’t Stop Local Officials from Blocking ICE

An Obama-appointed federal judge in Rochester, New York just handed the open-borders Left another win, tossing the Trump administration’s lawsuit against the City of Rochester’s sanctuary policies and slamming the door on the case with prejudice.

Senior U.S. District Judge Frank P. Geraci Jr. granted Rochester’s motion to dismiss on Tuesday and tossed the Justice Department’s amended complaint with prejudice, preventing the administration from simply revising and refiling the case in the same court.

Geraci also denied the Trump administration’s motion for summary judgment as moot.

Geraci was nominated to the federal bench by Barack Obama in 2012 and assumed senior status in 2023.

The Justice Department filed the lawsuit in April 2025 against Rochester, Democrat Mayor Malik Evans, the Rochester City Council, and Council President Miguel Meléndez Jr.

The administration argued that Rochester’s sanctuary policies intentionally obstruct federal immigration enforcement, unlawfully discriminate against federal authorities, and violate the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause.

The policies prohibit city personnel from using local resources to assist federal civil immigration enforcement except where specifically required by law.

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Massachusetts Sanctuary Politicians Released A Man Charged With Vehicular Homicide Three Times — ICE Finally Got Him

Massachusetts Democrats protected an illegal immigrant three times while one of their constituents lost his life.

Heriton Da Silva Aredes is a deported Brazilian national who came back to the United States and continued to engage in a career of criminality by committing assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, reckless operations of a motor vehicle, and furnishing a false ID among other illegal acts.

He started to come on ICE Boston’s radar in August 2023, after the Massachusetts State Police apprehended him in Middleboro. He was released by the state authorities before immigration agents were able to act. Not long after his release, he was arrested for the same transgressions by the Stoughton Police Department. Once again, ICE was unable to act before he was released.

The situation was the most grave in July 2026 when Aredes was charged with the negligent homicide of a motor vehicle victim. With his posting of bail, the Bristol House of Corrections released him without notifying ICE or honoring the immigration detainer.

It was not until August 6 of 2026 that ICE was able to arrest Aredes in the targeted operations in Taunton, Massachusetts.

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Far-Left Chicago Mayor Brags About Protecting Illegal Aliens Over Americans and Creating ‘ICE-Free Zones’ in His Crime-Plagued City

In an interview on The Joy Reid Show, Chicago’s far-left Democrat Mayor Brandon Johnson made a series of shocking statements, including that he prioritizes protecting illegal aliens and has created “ICE-free zones” in the city.

Johnson also claimed that the Trump administration is an example of the “tyranny and fascism” that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. warned about.

Johnson left little doubt about where his loyalties lie when discussing protection for various groups in Chicago.

“I’m going to stand up and protect working people… undocumented immigrants…whoever you are,” he stated.

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HORROR: Illegal Alien Who Entered US on Biden’s Open Border Invitation Snatches Special Needs Child From Her Bicycle, Sexually Assaults Her

Sanctuary policies in Democrat-run states are dangerous and deadly.

An illegal alien who entered the US on Joe Biden’s open border invitation grabbed a 9-year-old girl from her bicycle and sexually assaulted her.

The violent assault occurred last week in Pingree Grove, Illinois.

According to Border Hawk News, the suspect, Janio Gionel Velasquez-Muro, illegally entered the US from Venezuela in 2022.

Janio Gionel Velasquez-Muro grabbed the little girl as she was riding her bicycle, shoved her into a car, and sexually assaulted her.

Records reviewed by Border Hawk News reveal the victim has severe and profound intellectual disabilities.

Velasquez-Muro fled the scene but he was later arrested by law enforcement.

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ICE Nabs Violent Criminal Illegal Alien After Sanctuary Chicago Authorities Set Him Free

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers in Chicago arrested Luis Manuel Saucedo-Cardenas. The violent illegal alien felon and suspected former gang member was intentionally released by the Chicago Police Department. The troubling occurrence is repeating itself in multiple sanctuary jurisdictions across the country.

According to ICE, Saucedo-Cardenas, a 40-year-old criminal illegal alien from Mexico, has an extensive rap sheet that includes multiple arrests for assault, carjacking, controlled substance violations, and a prison stint for wire fraud. Saucedo-Cardenas, according to authorities, is a former member of the La Raza street gang. The gang primarily operates in the Chicago area but has been found operating in small numbers engaging in criminal enterprises in Florida, Georgia, and several parts of the western United States.

ICE previously removed Saucedo-Cardenas from the United States in 2022. According to ICE, a federal criminal arrest warrant was obtained for illegal re-entry into the United States for Saucedo-Cardenas and was confirmed by the Chicago Police Department, which had the criminal illegal alien in their custody at the time. Despite confirming their awareness of the existing warrant of arrest on May 1, ICE says the Chicago Police Department refused to transfer custody of Saucedo-Cardenas to ICE Chicago despite multiple requests.

According to ICE, operating under sanctuary policies enacted by politicians, the violent repeat offender was released back onto the streets of Chicago. Expressing frustration at the lack of cooperation with ICE by Chicago law enforcement authorities, ICE Chicago Acting Field Office Director Tammy Marich said, “The Chicago Police Department knowingly jeopardized the public’s safety by releasing a dangerous suspect with a federal criminal arrest warrant. Politics aside, there is no excuse for sanctuary politicians to threaten the well-being of the communities they purport to serve.”

According to ICE, the safest way to arrest criminal illegal aliens starts with lodging immigration detainers against them. An immigration detainer is a request from ICE that asks other law enforcement agencies, including jails, prisons, or other detention facilities, to notify ICE as early as possible before releasing a removable alien, or to hold the individual for up to 48 hours beyond normal release time so DHS may assume custody in accordance with federal immigration law.

The Chicago Police Department has a long history of failing to honor the detainers or to cooperate with ICE when an illegal alien is arrested for a suspected criminal act within the sanctuary city. The lack of cooperation can have devastating impacts on residents when offenders are released back into the community. As reported by Breitbart News’s John Binder, Jose Medina-Medina, a 25-year-old illegal alien from Venezuela, was arrested by the Chicago Police Department and charged with murdering Sheridan Gorman, an 18-year-old freshman at Loyola University, in a random attack on a pier at Tobey Prinz Beach on March 19.

Records show Medina-Medina was arrested after crossing the southwest border in 2023 and released to pursue asylum shortly afterward. Within months of arriving in Chicago, Medina-Medina was arrested by Chicago authorities and charged with shoplifting. Under Chicago and the state of Illinois sanctuary policies, Medina-Medina was set free by authorities rather than being turned over to ICE officials for removal proceedings.

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Maryland Sheriffs Sue State to Stop Amnesty State Law

Seventeen Maryland county sheriffs have joined together to sue the state over a new law that gives sanctuary to illegals that the law officers say will make Maryland a more dangerous place to live.

Sheriff Jeffrey R. Gahler, of Harford County, Maryland, and sixteen other Maryland sheriffs, have joined with the  in a lawsuit filed in a federal court to block the state’s newly passed “Community Trust Act” (SB0791).

“It is an intentional state-mandated obstruction of public safety,” Sheriff Gahler said about the new law. “This law deliberately ties the hands of our dedicated local deputies, police officers and correctional officers. It forbids us from sharing information with federal authorities.”

“This issue, ladies and gentlemen, is not about politics. It’s about public safety. And, we believe this law directly hampers our ability to effectively safeguard the boundaries of our respective counties,” Worcester County Sheriff Matt Crisafulli added.

The new law passed in the House of Delegates 92-37 and in the state Senate 32-15 this week and became law without Democrat Gov. Wes Moore’s signature.

The Community Trust Act bans local cooperation with federal immigration officials and maintains that a felony conviction or a judicial warrant must be presented by immigration officers before local law enforcement can communicate with ICE about a suspect’s immigration status.

The lawsuit filed by the group of county sheriffs says that the state’s new law violates federal authority to implement legal immigration policy and is a violation of the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution. It also forces state law enforcement to break federal law by harboring illegal migrants.

In its press release on the lawsuit, FAIR says that “Maryland’s sanctuary law thereby makes it impossible to obey both federal law and state law, it presents a textbook case of conflict preemption.”

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Homeland Security ‘Drawing Up Plans’ to Suspend International Flights Into Sanctuary Cities Until They Stop Protecting Illegal Aliens

The Trump administration is considering plans to suspend immigration and customs processing at airports in Democrat-run sanctuary cities.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said the administration is drawing up plans to halt processing at airports in Democratic-run jurisdictions that refuse to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement.

Mullin confirmed the plans in an interview on Fox News host Sean Hannity.

“We’re currently drawing up plans to say listen, in these sanctuary cities, where the local, radical left Democrats aren’t allowing us to do our job and enforce federal laws, then we shouldn’t be processing international flights into their cities either,” he explained.

“Because they don’t want us to enforce immigration, but they want us to process immigration at their facilities? Nothing about that makes sense to me.”

The proposal would impact some of the country’s busiest international gateways, including airports in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle, Boston, Denver, Philadelphia, and Newark.

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Sanctuary Jurisdictions Must Comply Or Face More ICE Boots On The Ground: Homan

Sanctuary jurisdictions in the United States will see more Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) personnel on the ground if they do not allow local law enforcement to cooperate with ICE officers, border czar Tom Homan said in a May 15 interview with the Daily Signal.

In the interview, Homan was specifically asked about New York. In January, the state’s governor, Kathy Hochul, proposed the Local Cops, Local Crimes Act, which bars state and local law enforcement agencies from signing or maintaining any Section 287(g) agreements with ICE.

Such agreements authorize ICE to delegate certain immigration functions to local and state officers under the agency’s oversight. Local and state officers can detain suspected illegal immigrants under the deal.

If passed, the New York bill would void all existing Section 287(g) agreements in the state. Homan said in the interview that he had talked to Hochul about the consequences.

“I said, Look, you end cooperation in the jails, we’re going to have to send more agents to do the job, because now, rather than one agent arresting one bad guy in the jail, which is safer for the agent, safer for the alien, safer for the community, of course, you’re going to release him. Now we got to send a whole team, six or seven agents, to go find him. So, it’s going to result in more agents in the community,” Homan said.

“Totally briefed on the whole thing, but she decided to go ahead and do it anyways. Well, I made a statement that we’re going to send more agents to New York. We have to, as a response to this, go arrest those public safety threats.”

When asked whether any sanctuary jurisdiction that doesn’t cooperate with ICE would face more ICE personnel on the ground, Homan replied, “Absolutely.”

The border czar said that he warned Hochul that there would be more collateral arrests if that’s the situation. For instance, if ICE were to arrest a criminal illegal alien, and the individual was with another illegal immigrant, then the second individual would be arrested as well.

Plus, Hochul’s legislation bans ICE from leasing beds from sheriffs in the state, due to which every illegal immigrant arrested has to be flown out of state for detainment. So, if New York locks ICE out of local jails for detaining illegals, “then we’ll simply fly them out,” Homan said.

Earlier this month, Hochul announced that an agreement had been reached with legislative leaders on the key priorities of the fiscal year 2027 state budget, including a provision banning state, local, and federal officials from wearing masks while on duty.

“Good luck with the law of banning masks. Federal law always trumps state and local law. And while threats are up over 8,000 percent, masks is a non-starter, so good luck enforcing that,” Homan said, regarding that provision.

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Southern California Police Urge Homeowners to Search Their Yards for Hidden Cameras Planted by Illegal Alien Burglary Rings, Thanks to Gavin Newsom’s Sanctuary State Policies

Southern California residents are being urged to physically inspect their property after the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department confirmed that organized burglary crews, many tied to illegal South American theft rings, are planting hidden cameras in bushes, flower beds, planters, and landscaping to scout and monitor targeted homes before striking.

The alarming announcement comes after deputies responding to a residential burglary in San Dimas discovered concealed surveillance devices that were actively feeding live video to criminals.

On Tuesday, San Dimas Sheriff’s Station deputies were called to a home break-in.

While investigating, they located a small camera hidden deep in the bushes directly across from the victim’s residence.

The device was wired to a portable hotspot and an external battery pack, allowing the burglars to remotely watch the home in real time.

Approximately one week earlier, a landscaper working in the same neighborhood found a second identical device concealed in hedges he was trimming.

Both cameras were camouflaged with artificial plants, green tape, and surrounding foliage to blend seamlessly into the yard.

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