Sanctuary Policies Push Immigration Enforcement Into the Streets

Most Americans agree on two priorities: keeping communities safe and protecting law enforcement officers. Sanctuary policies undermine both. When states and cities adopt sanctuary policies that refuse cooperation with federal immigration authorities, they force enforcement out of secure settings like jails and into neighborhoods–where arrests are riskier and more unpredictable.

Sanctuary Policies Mean Less Cooperation–and More Street Arrests

Under sanctuary policies, local agencies decline to honor ICE detainers or share custody information. As a result, federal officers lose the chance to safely take custody of criminal aliens in jail and are instead forced to conduct “at-large” arrests in the community.

The New York Times reports that these arrests are more common in states with sanctuary policies limiting cooperation with ICE. A Washington Post analysis found that ICE is now making more than four times as many at-large arrests per week than during President Trump’s first term. Sanctuary policies do not stop enforcement–they shift it into less controlled environments.

Sanctuary Policies Increase Risks for Communities and Officers

ICE warns that community arrests “are unpredictable and can be dangerous to the public.” Those risks are amplified under sanctuary policies, which make routine jail transfers impossible and push enforcement into public spaces.

This is a foreseeable consequence of sanctuary policies, not a failure of law enforcement. No neighborhood is safer when arrests occur on the street instead of in a secure facility, and no officer should face added danger because cooperation has been deliberately restricted.

A Bipartisan Path Forward on Sanctuary Policies

Congress has practical, bipartisan options to reduce the risks created by sanctuary policies. Ending sanctuary protections would allow ICE to safely detain criminal aliens in jails rather than neighborhoods. Addressing the incentives that make enforcement harder is equally important.

Mandating nationwide use of E-Verify would remove the jobs magnet that attracts illegal employment and rewards employers who violate the law–reducing the enforcement burden created by sanctuary policies, even where they remain in place.

E-Verify Helps Offset the Harm of Sanctuary Policies

Sanctuary policies magnify the dangers created by an immigration system that operates at unsustainable scale. When the illegal population is large, enforcement is harder, more resource-intensive, and more likely to spill into communities.

E-Verify is often framed as a labor issue, but it is also a public safety tool. By shrinking the illegal workforce, it reduces the number of at-large arrests ICE must conduct as a result of sanctuary policies and makes enforcement more targeted and predictable.

Common-Sense Solutions

Immigration enforcement works best when it is orderly and cooperative. Sanctuary policies undermine that cooperation, pushing enforcement into the streets and increasing risks for everyone involved. Ending misguided sanctuary policies and mandating E-Verify would protect communities, reduce danger to ICE agents, and restore a safer, more effective enforcement system.