Sanctuary Cities: Minnesota Leaders Respond to Trump Orders

MINNEAPOLIS, MN — Several Minnesota cities, including Minneapolis and Saint Paul, may face a crackdown after President Donald Trump signed an executive order Wednesday that would withhold federal funds from local governments that offer sanctuary to illegal immigrants. Sanctuary cities and counties are called that because they offer sanctuary to illegal immigrants, refusing to turn them over to federal officials for deportation.

Most sanctuary cities and counties have also passed laws preventing employees from even turning over information to immigration officials.

Before Trump signed the sanctuary city order, he signed an order formally moving forward with his campaign promise to build a wall on the Mexican border.

In response to Trump's executive orders, Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges, City Council President Barbara Johnson and City Council Vice President Elizabeth Glidden issued a joint statement, stating that, "Minneapolis is a city that welcomes everyone: immigrants, refugees, Native people, LGBT people, people with disabilities, and people of all races, genders, religions and ethnicities. Minneapolis is also a city that works hard to keep everyone safe in every community and every neighborhood."

"In Minneapolis, one of the common-sense ways that we welcome all communities and work to keep them safe is by separating local police work from that of federal immigration authorities. This is how we encourage anyone who has been the victim of or witness to a crime to come forward, which keeps everyone in every neighborhood safer. We will continue to aggressively defend this common-sense practice to ensure that Minneapolis remains safe and welcoming for everyone."

Hodges also posted a statement on Facebook condemning Trump's executive actions, linking them to authoritarianism:

Already he has erased climate change and GLBTQ people from the White House website, had his press secretary lie about the facts of his inauguration, is hunting for a non-existent voter fraud problem, and has threatened the budget of the NEA. If you want more authoritarianism, then: scapegoat, erase, lie, go after voters, and go after artists. This was his centralize-his-authority to-do list, he made no bones about it, and he's busily checking things off of it.

What he didn't count on? Us - our strength and our organizing. Cities - our people and our tenacity. We will make this democracy hard to break. He will have to come through us; he will have to come through me.

Lt. Governor Smith also weighed in on Trump's executive orders, saying, "I stand in solidarity for the respect, freedom and dignity of all our friends and neighbors in Minnesota, and in opposition to those who seek to divide us by attacking refugees and immigrant Minnesotans."

"Minnesota communities and our economy are strong because of our history of welcoming immigrants from every continent, nation, and culture. We will keep on working to enhance understanding, expand opportunity and protect human rights for all of us. In doing so, we make Minnesota even stronger."

As recent as Tuesday night, the Saint Paul Public School Board passed a resolution saying it would provide safety and education to students regardless of their immigration status.

The Minneapolis Board of Education passed a similar resolution in December, declaring itself a "safe haven" for immigrants.

One possibility being considered would be to challenge the legality of the executive order in court.

Image via Tony Webster, Flickr, used under Creative Commons