They’re making a list. They’re checking it twice. They’re gonna find out if you’re bowing to ICE.
Two days before Christmas, America First Legal Foundation — the organization founded by former Trump White House adviser Stephen Miller — sent letters to dozens of officials across the country, warning that so-called sanctuary jurisdictions could face “serious consequences” if they run afoul of the incoming administration’s immigration policies.
Miller, who’s been tapped to serve as Donald Trump’s deputy chief of staff for policy after crafting bigoted policies during the president-elect’s first term, has used America First Legal as the MAGA movement’s litigative attack dog. And this letter does a whole lot of woofing. (You can read the letters here.)
San Diego County’s Board of Supervisors, for example, recently voted to forbid local law enforcement from aiding federal immigration agencies (such as U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement) unless there’s a judicial warrant. And Miller’s group isn’t happy about it.
In the Dec. 23 letter, America First Legal Foundation wrote: “We have identified San Diego County as a sanctuary jurisdiction that is violating federal law.” The conservative legal nonprofit that day announced that it had identified 249 elected officials in sanctuary jurisdictions who it said could face “legal consequences” over immigration policies.
Trump and his allies have repeatedly tried — and failed — to use the courts to shut down sanctuary city policies. For years, they’ve portrayed these cities as hotbeds of crime, despite research — like this 2017 report from the Center for American Progress — showing crime rates being lower in sanctuary cities than in non-sanctuary cities.
Nonetheless, America First Legal’s letter warns that anyone who abides by the sanctuary policies in question could face a civil racketeering case — and five years in prison per immigrant involved. (It’s worth noting that the group joins Trump’s incoming “border czar,” Tom Homan, in threatening to incarcerate officials who don’t comply with the MAGA movement’s immigration demands.)
This effort by Miller’s organization seems pretty suggestive of the cruelty that Trump’s incoming administration has planned for immigration enforcement. And the fact that the group is pre-emptively threatening officials with financial devastation and prison time shows how desperate Trump and his allies are to act on his vile vow to deport immigrants en masse.
