Blue States Call Bondi's Immigration Bluff

The Tenth Amendment is real

On August 5, Attorney General Pam Bondi published a list of so-called “sanctuary jurisdictions” that “undermine federal immigration enforcement.”

The phrase “sanctuary jurisdiction” has no fixed legal definition. Bondi’s list identifies nine “characteristics” of so-called sanctuary jurisdictions. These include refusal to cooperate or share information with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), barring use of local funds or resources on federal immigration enforcement efforts, and providing state benefits to immigrants, including health care assistance and legal aid. While Bondi clearly uses it as a pejorative, many places have embraced the term to describe a place whose residents have chosen to welcome immigrants, rather than demonize them as criminals.

In reality, Bondi’s naughty list is an effort to intimidate local officials into making it easier for Trump to carry out his deportation dragnet. It calls out twelve of the bluest states in the country, along with the District of Columbia and 18 other cities with Democratic mayors, including New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Boston.

Eight days after she published her hit list, Bondi sent out dozens of identical form letters threatening to prosecute state and local officials who fail to cooperate sufficiently with the Trump administration’s policies.