Tag: sanctuary cities

Democrat VA Gubernatorial Candidate Abigail Spanberger Wants to Turn Virginia Into a Sanctuary State for Illegal Aliens

Abigail Spanberger, the Democrat candidate for governor of Virginia, is vowing to turn the commonwealth into a sanctuary state by reversing the immigration policies put in place by the current governor, Republican Glenn Youngkin.

Spanberger has also made it clear that she is an ally to the transgender agenda, and would allow boys in girls’ locker rooms and bathrooms.

On nearly every issue, Spanberger embraces the unpopular positions of the far left that the majority of the country rejected in the 2024 election.

Spanberger made her comments about immigration in an interview with the Virginia Mercury:

Spanberger vows to scrap Youngkin’s immigration order if elected governor

Democratic nominee for governor Abigail Spanberger says one of her first acts if elected would be to undo Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s February directive requiring Virginia law enforcement to help carry out federal immigration crackdowns — a policy she argues wastes local resources and undermines community trust.

“I would rescind his executive order, yes,” Spanberger told The Mercury in a lengthy policy interview earlier this month, referring to Youngkin’s Executive Order 47 issued in February. The order gave state police and corrections officers authority to perform certain immigration duties and also urged local jails to fully cooperate with federal deportation operations.

The governor said at the time the measure was meant to keep “dangerous criminal illegal immigrants” off Virginia’s streets. Spanberger countered that Youngkin’s approach illustrates how immigration enforcement can pull local agencies away from their core responsibilities while pushing state agencies into federal civil enforcement.

“Our immigration system is absolutely broken,” she said. “The idea that we would take local police officers or local sheriff’s deputies in amid all the things that they have to do, like community policing or staffing our jails or investigating real crimes, so that they can go and tear families apart … that is a misuse of those resources.”

Spanberger has been leading her Republican opponent Winsome Earle-Sears, the current Lieutenant Governor of Virginia, for weeks but Sears has rapidly closed the polling gap just within the last ten days. The race is now nearly tied.

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San Francisco Judge Forces Trump To Keep Funding Sanctuary Cities

A federal judge in San Francisco ruled on Friday that the Trump administration cannot suspend funding to 34 ‘sanctuary’ cities which limit or refuse cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.

US District Judge William Orrick  – a rich kid lawyer appointed by former President Barack Obama to the US District Court for the Northern District of California – ordered the extension of a preliminary injunction barring the administration from blocking funding or placing conditions on federal  funding for those jurisdictions. Orrick also prevented the administration from imposing immigration-related conditions on two particular grant programs. 

The Trump administration initially tried to block funding to dozens of cities and counties over sanctuary city policies – cutting off their Housing and Urban Development (HUD) grants due to noncompliance with federal immigration enforcement. 

The protected cities include; Boston, Chicago, Denver, Seattle, Los Angeles, Albuquerque, Baltimore, San Jose, San Diego and others – while major counties covered include Multnomah County in Oregon, which encompasses Portland; Allegheny County in Pennsylvania, which encompasses Pittsburgh; and Hennepin County in Minnesota, which encompasses Minneapolis, the Epoch Times reports, nothing further; 

The Trump administration has ratcheted up pressure on sanctuary communities as it seeks to make good on President Donald Trump’s campaign promise to remove millions of people who are in the country illegally.

One executive order issued by Trump directs Attorney General Pam Bondi and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to withhold federal money from sanctuary jurisdictions. Another order directs every federal agency to ensure that payments to state and local governments do not “abet so-called ‘sanctuary’ policies that seek to shield illegal aliens from deportation.”

In May, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released a list of more than 500 “sanctuary jurisdictions” and said that all of those municipalities and counties would be sent a formal notification deeming them to be noncompliant with the Trump administration’s orders. Those officials would also be informed by DHS on whether they were said to be in violation of any federal laws.

Orrick said in his order that the administration’s decisions to withhold federal funding in those jurisdictions are a “coercive threat” that he deemed to be “unconstitutional.”

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First Human Case Of Flesh-Eating Screwworm Detected In Sanctuary State Of Maryland 

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) reported the first human case of travel-associated New World screwworm in Maryland after a “patient” returned from El Salvador, according to Reuters, citing HHS spokesman Andrew G. Nixon. Details about the patient’s immigration status were not released, though it’s worth noting that Maryland is a far-left Democratic Party stronghold and a sanctuary state.

Screwworms have been moving north from Central America through Mexico since 2023, with a new case identified in July about 400 miles south of the U.S. border in Veracruz. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) response was to shut down cross-border activity of cattle ports of entry into the U.S. to mitigate the biosecurity threat.  

More details from the Reuters report:

  • HHS reported the first human case of travel-associated New World screwworm in the U.S. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed the parasite on August 4 in a patient returning from El Salvador.
  • Industry sources earlier told Reuters the patient had traveled from Guatemala, and Beef Alliance emails circulated this version to livestock stakeholders. HHS did not clarify the discrepancy.
  • HHS says the risk to U.S. public health is very low. No U.S. animal cases have been reported this year.

For humans, screwworm infestations are survivable with treatment, but this is the first U.S. case that has sent alarm bells across public health officials and the cattle industry. Left untreated, these parasites can kill hosts, such as cattle, wildlife, and pets. 

Here is USDA’s response so far:

  • Sterile fly facility: USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins recently announced plans for a new sterile fly facility in Texas (Moore Air Force Base), modeled on past eradication campaigns. The facility will take 2–3 years to build.
  • Mexico is also building a $51 million sterile fly plant in the south. Currently, only one plant exists (Panama City), producing 100 million sterile flies weekly – but 500 million are needed to push infestations back to the Darien Gap.

USDA estimates that a Texas screwworm outbreak could devastate the cattle industry, inflicting $1.8 billion in losses from livestock deaths, labor, and treatment costs. The biothreat comes at a time when the nation’s cattle herd is the smallest in 70 years, beef prices are at record highs, and feedlot margins remain extremely tight.

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Obama Judge Shields Sanctuary Cities From Donald Trump’s Immigration Crackdown Efforts

A federal judge ruled on Friday that the Trump administration cannot cut funding to 34 cities and counties in response to sanctuary policies that limit cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.

U.S. District Judge William Orrick, who previously issued an order protecting more than a dozen other jurisdictions, extended a preliminary injunction blocking the administration from pulling federal money or attaching immigration-related conditions to its use.

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Colorado Cops Punished for Helping ICE, As Sanctuary State Law Takes Priority Over Public Safety

Colorado authorities have suspended several police officers for sharing immigration status information with ICE. This politically driven decision undermines the ability of local cops to work with federal agencies to enforce immigration laws, putting communities at greater risk and sending a troubling message that breaking the law may be tolerated if politically convenient.

Three Mesa County Sheriff’s Department personnel—a pair of deputies and a sergeant—were suspended without pay for breaching Colorado’s sanctuary state law, which bans sharing information with federal immigration authorities. Sheriff Todd Rowell took this disciplinary action after conducting an internal investigation into the circumstances that led to the recent ICE arrest of 19-year-old Utah nursing student Caroline Dias-Goncalves.

Dias-Goncalves, originally from Brazil, was stopped by Deputy Alexander Zwinck on June 5 for allegedly tailgating a semi-truck. After issuing a warning, Zwinck let her go. However, within 20 minutes, ICE agents apprehended her over an expired visa.

It was later revealed that Deputy Zwinck shared details about Dias-Goncalves’ whereabouts and vehicle in a group chat that included ICE officials. Zwinck was assigned to a multi-agency drug task force involving local, state, and federal law enforcement. Following her arrest, Dias-Goncalves was detained by immigration authorities for 15 days before being granted bond.

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Trump administration sues Los Angeles over sanctuary policies that ‘impede’ ICE operations

The Trump administration is suing the city of Los Angeles, alleging that the policies interfere with federal immigration authorities from doing their jobs.

“Sanctuary policies were the driving cause of the violence, chaos, and attacks on law enforcement that Americans recently witnessed in Los Angeles,” Attorney General Pam Bondi told Fox News in an exclusive statement.

“Jurisdictions like Los Angeles that flout federal law by prioritizing illegal aliens over American citizens are undermining law enforcement at every level – it ends under President Trump,” Bondi added.

The lawsuit says that the city is discriminating against federal authorities by treating ICE differently than other types of law enforcement.

The Department of Justice argues that the Supremacy Clause in the U.S. Constitution prohibits this, so they are asking a judge to block the enforcement of the policies.

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Judge Blocks Transportation Department From Withholding Funds From States That Defy Federal Immigration Policy

A group of Democratic attorneys general secured a favorable ruling by a federal judge in Rhode Island on June 19 to temporarily block the Trump administration’s plan to withhold transportation grant funding for states that refuse to go along with its immigration polices.

Two days earlier, in the wake of recent anti-immigration riots in Los Angeles rife with looting, destruction of personal property, and physical impediment of immigration officials, Department of Transportation (DOT) Secretary Sean Duffy said on X: “The @USDOT will NOT fund rogue state actors who refuse to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement. And to cities that stand by while rioters destroy transportation infrastructure—don’t expect a red cent from DOT, either. Follow the law, or forfeit the funding.”

His X post was in response to President Donald Trump’s Truth Social post that same day saying Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers should “do all in their power to achieve the very important goal of delivering the single largest Mass Deportation Program in History.”

“In order to achieve this, we must expand efforts to detain and deport Illegal Aliens in America’s largest Cities, such as Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York, where Millions upon Millions of Illegal Aliens reside,” the president wrote.

“I want ICE, Border Patrol, and our Great and Patriotic Law Enforcement Officers, to FOCUS on our crime-ridden and deadly Inner Cities, and those places where Sanctuary Cities play such a big role.”

The Democratic state attorneys general filed a lawsuit on May 13 over Duffy’s defunding policy announced in April.

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Congress moves to abolish sanctuary cities and states—it’s about time

The progressives have had their way for far too long when it comes to illegal immigration. Republicans have tolerated their insistence on harboring illegal aliens and criminals, and the time has finally arrived to stop this violation of the law and provide safety and security for our citizens. Both the Executive Branch and Congress are stepping up to honor the rule of law.

On January 22, several Republican Senators promoted a new bill on the issue:

Today, Senators Ted Budd (R-NC), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Katie Britt (R-AL), Roger Marshall (R-KS), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Tim Sheehy (R-MT), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), James Lankford (R-OK), and Mike Rounds (R-SD) introduced the Justice for Victims of Sanctuary Cities Act. 

The bill would allow the victims of murders, rapes, and other felonies committed by illegal aliens to sue sanctuary states or cities that failed to honor a detainer request. The legislation also bans certain federal grants to sanctuary jurisdictions. Senator Budd twice led this legislation in the U.S. House in 2019 and 2021.

Both senators Tillis and Budd made powerful statements in support of this bill. Here is Senator Tillis’s statement, in part:

‘I am committed to working with President Trump to end illegal immigration and fight sanctuary cities that prioritize reckless, lawless policies over public safety. It is clear that liberal politicians want to put political ideology ahead of the safety of their constituents. It is time for Congress to step in and hold sanctuary cities accountable.’

The House proposed a similar bill to stop these violations of federal law, initiated by Rep. Chris Langworthy:

Today, Congressman Nick Langworthy (NY-23) introduced the Stop Dangerous Sanctuary Cities Act of 2025 to block federal funding for sanctuary jurisdictions that prohibit or restrict local law enforcement from sharing immigration status information or cooperating with federal immigration enforcement efforts. Sanctuary cities are actively undermining federal immigration enforcement by refusing to cooperate with ICE detainer requests and releasing dangerous criminals back onto our streets. It’s time to hold them accountable. 

Additionally, this legislation clarifies legal authority for local and state law enforcement to honor federal immigration detainer requests by deeming officers who comply to be acting as federal agents. It protects law enforcement by shielding officers and jurisdictions from liability when they cooperate with federal immigration enforcement. The bill also encourages compliance with federal immigration law by targeting jurisdictions that defy lawful detainer requests and shield illegal immigrants from removal.

Cities and states are also willing to pay dearly for the cost of allowing illegal aliens in their locations. The cost of feeding and boarding them can be enormous; educating their children, many who don’t speak English, is significant. They are also putting ICE officers in danger by alerting protestors that the officers will be working in their areas. 

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Sanctuary State Governors Double Down On Illegal Immigration In Tense Capitol Hearing

The conflict surrounding the Trump Administration’s deportation of illegal aliens is driven by a complex web of NGOs and astroturf activist groups, but Democrat politicians continue to play a considerable role in fomenting civil unrest.  State leaders were a key element of the BLM riots in 2020, providing a governmental green light for the mobs by exempting them from covid mandates.  City officials ensured that rioters and looters were released without charges, cycling them back out onto the streets to wreak havoc day after day.  Other Democrat leaders hobbled local law enforcement and prevented them from intervening in the riots.

The pattern seems to be repeating, with Democrats doubling down on their defense of illegal immigration and interfering in ICE operations.  The law, once again, is only important to progressives when it works in their favor.  When it doesn’t, they ignore it.

This week multiple Democrat governors defended their sanctuary state policies in a hearing on illegal immigration on Capitol Hill.  Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, and New York Governor Kathy Hochul testified at the hearing, asserting that the immigration issue was being overblown by the Trump Administration and diminishing concerns over violent migrant crimes. 

Tim Walz argued that Trump was using the DHS as his personal “gestapo” and Kathy Hochul called deportations an “assault on American values”.

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“STOLEN VALOR!” – Minnesota Rep. Pete Stauber GOES OFF, Screaming at Gov. Tim Walz for False Military Service Claims and Lawless Sanctuary State Policies in House Hearing

After seven hours of grueling testimony in an explosive House Oversight Committee hearing on Thursday, Rep. Pete Stauber (R-MN) called out his Governor, Tim Walz, for disastrous pro-BLM and sanctuary city policies, his statements comparing ICE agents to the Gestapo, and stolen valor claims.

As The Gateway Pundit reported earlier, sparks flew when Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Chairman James Comer had a confrontation with far-left Democrat Florida Rep. Maxwell Frost when he disrupted the hearing, demanding the committee subpoena DHS Secretary Kristi Noem. Her crime: being accosted aggressively by another Democratic Senator who was thrown to the ground and arrested.

In Rep. Stauber’s fiery exchange with Tim Walz, the Congressman brought a photo of rioters in Minneapolis, Minnesota, burning a police station during the 2020 George Floyd riots. “It’s a precinct burning down because of your decision! Was this a peaceful protest?” Stauber said as Walz refused to admit the riots in Minneapolis were not peaceful protests.

Stauber told the Governor, “As I watched lawless devestate Los Angeles this past week, I was reminded of your failure to protect Minnesota from similar riots.”

The Congressman further slammed the Governor for refusing to apologize or walk back previous statements he was asked about at least four times throughout the hearing, comparing ICE officers to Nazis and calling them the “Gestapo,” which he refused to do once again in the seventh hour of the nearly eight-hour long hearing.

He then took aim at Minnesota’s record of welcoming and protecting illegal aliens, as a befuddled Walz fumbled answers to Minnesota’s harboring of Al-Shabaab terrorists, child predators, and whether or not the officers who arrested them are Nazi Gestapo. He kept referring to “the tactics of wearing masks,” which is done to protect the agents and officers from foreign enemies, gangsters, and murderers.

“Why did you tell us that they were the Gestapo? You believe that any of the violent illegal immigrants I have mentioned have a right to be in this country?” the Congressman exclaimed. Walz replied disgracefully, “I don’t know what their immigration status was.”

Eventually, after tearing Walz to shreds on his sanctuary state record, the Congressman started his war on Walz’s military service records and accusations of stolen valor against the failed Vice Presidential candidate, asking him, “What weapons did you carry in war?” When Walz began to answer with a lie about the weapons he carried in a war he never fought in, the Congressman cut him off, and Walz began questioning what weapon Stauber, who was a police officer, carried in war.

“Governor, you’re barking down the wrong tree, okay? You lied to the Minnesotans. You said that you carry weapons in war,” Stauber shouted. “Stolen valor! You didn’t carry weapons in war!”

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