Document Type
Essay
Publication Date
2025
Publication
Rutgers University Law Review
Volume
77
Abbreviation
Rutgers U. L. Rev.
First Page
1417
Abstract
This Essay outlines the challenges that sanctuary jurisdictions are facing under the second Trump Administration. The authors argue that this fight not only implicates immigration policies in this country, especially with respect to interior enforcement, but it also threatens to upend the basic structure of our federal system. The authors begin in Part I with an overview of the legal tensions underlying this sanctuary fight—between federal supremacy on the one hand and anti-commandeering on the other. This sets the stage for Part II, where the authors examine the various legal mechanisms—defunding, civil litigation, and criminal prosecution—that the Trump Administration has used or threatened to use against sanctuary jurisdictions. Finally, Part III explores the opposite—the risks they face if they decide to participate. As is often the case for local governments in the United States, the authors show how today’s immigration debates place them between a rock and a hard place.