Shortly after Donald Trump’s presidential re-election in November 2024, the City Council of Somerville passed a resolution reaffirming its 2019 “Welcoming Community Ordinance,” which designates the area as a sanctuary city. The Trump administration has since threatened to withdraw federal funding from cities and states that classify themselves as sanctuaries for undocumented immigrants. The threat has sparked various lawsuits and motivated states and localities alike to assist with immigration enforcement. Under the threat of Trump withdrawing federal funding, should Somerville Police cooperate and assist Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) with their enforcement of immigration law? No.
Before addressing why Somerville Police should not cooperate with ICE, it is crucial to define what a “sanctuary” jurisdiction is. A sanctuary jurisdiction is a state or locality that limits its involvement and cooperation with ICE to allow undocumented immigrants to live undisturbed as members of the community. The idea that a state or locality declaring itself to be a “sanctuary” means that the jurisdiction is actively working against enforcing federal immigration laws is blatantly false. Actively passing policies to hinder the enforcement of federal immigration laws would directly violate the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause. Somerville’s “Welcoming Community Ordinance” and its reaffirmation express the city’s refusal to cooperate with federal immigration law while simultaneously abiding by it.
The federal government cannot coerce states to implement federal programs or enforce federal law. In New York v. United States (1992), Justice Sandra Day O’Connor wrote that allowing the federal government to coerce states “would ‘commandeer’ state governments into the service of federal regulatory purposes, and would for this reason be inconsistent with the Constitution’s division of authority between federal and state governments.” Due to this anti-commandeering doctrine, states and localities, including Somerville, can choose whether to cooperate with federal immigration law.
With cooperation being optional, a state or locality is more than able to enforce federal immigration law should it be in the jurisdiction’s best interest. The 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act § 287(g) program allows the federal government to deputize state and local law enforcement to “perform a function of an immigration officer in relation to the investigation, apprehension, or detention of aliens in the United States (including the transportation of such aliens across State lines to detention centers).” Several states, most recently New Hampshire, have filed applications to deputize state police through the program.
The Trump administration adamantly depicts undocumented immigrants, particularly those from Mexico and other Latin American countries, as “drug dealers” and “criminals.” According to the CATO Institute, in 2019, 14,010 undocumented immigrants were convicted of crimes in Texas compared to the 1,871,115 undocumented immigrants living in the state—a 0.7% crime rate. CATO also found that undocumented immigrants in Texas were 37.1% less likely to be convicted of a crime when compared to U.S. citizens. The New York Times and The Marshall Project have also found no correlation between crime rate and undocumented immigrants residing in a state or locality. To be frank, Trump’s claims amount to nothing more than rhetoric.
Somerville has no incentive to assist ICE with enforcing federal immigration law, as this would only harm its economy and community. Undocumented immigrants play a significant role in the U.S. workforce, especially in the construction industry. In 2022, the American Immigration Council stated that mass deportation operations “would remove more than 30 percent of the workers in major construction trades, such as plasterers, roofers, and painters; nearly 28 percent of graders and sorters of agriculture products; and a fourth of all housekeeping cleaners.” After taxes, undocumented immigrants in the entire U.S. held approximately $256.8 billion in spending power. Somerville’s economy would be devastated by the removal of undocumented immigrants from the community, as the city claimed in 2017 that one-third of its 80,000 residents were immigrants to the United States.
That being said, there are some ethical problems with an undocumented workforce. Oftentimes, undocumented immigrants face lower wages and poorer working conditions than their documented and citizen counterparts. In 2022, undocumented immigrants contributed $46.8 billion in federal taxes and $29.3 billion in state and local taxes. Undocumented immigrants cannot receive benefits such as Social Security, which they contribute to for the benefit of citizens. But rather than devastating the economy and shattering the American Dream for those who choose to come to the United States, we should create a sensible immigration policy that keeps our borders secure and simultaneously constitutes easier pathways to citizenship for immigrants to the United States. Likewise, we should ensure that employers provide equal wages and safe working conditions to immigrant laborers and assist with the citizenship process so they can experience all the benefits of American citizenship.
Photo by TJ Reiter