Austin, Tx., has taken a new tack in the ongoing war between “sanctuary cities” and federal immigration authorities. Declaring itself a “freedom city,” the Texas capital instructed its police officers to arrest fewer people for minor crimes in order to prevent their fingerprints from going to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and to inform people that they may refuse a request to present their immigration papers, Stateline reports. Austin’s policy fits into a broader pattern: As the Trump administration this year ratcheted up its efforts to curb illegal immigration, cities and states experimented with new ways to resist the crackdown, or in some cases, assist it. California declared itself a sanctuary state, prompting pushback from some of its counties. Connecticut, Illinois, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington enacted statewide measures to limit law enforcement cooperation with immigration authorities, while New Mexico weighed stricter state oversight of immigrant detention facilities.
Meanwhile, Iowa, North Carolina and Tennessee enacted anti-sanctuary laws requiring cities to cooperate with immigration authorities. Lawmakers in 16 other states tried but failed to do the same, including Virginia, where the majority Republican Legislature passed a bill and the governor, Democrat Ralph Northam, vetoed it. In Oregon, a group favoring a crackdown on illegal immigration put a measure on the November ballot that would undo that state’s 1987 sanctuary law. “The general trend is that Southern big cities are becoming more liberal than their state and suburbs, and less involved with [assisting federal officials with] immigration enforcement,” said Randy Capps of the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute. “Some of the suburbs, smaller cities and rural areas, especially in Texas and Georgia, are getting more involved.”