Rep. Derek Schmidt on Sanctuary Policies and Federal Law Enforcement Cooperation

The Principle of Government Cooperation

• 🤝 Federal law mandates cooperation and communication among government levels to enforce removal orders for convicted individuals.
• ⚖️ While states have rights and limits on federal compulsion (anti-commandeering doctrine), they cannot actively impede federal law enforcement.

Sanctuary Policies and Their Impact

• ⚠️ Sanctuary policies, like those in Washington state, hinder communication between law enforcement entities, impacting the ability to stop crimes.
• 💔 A case is cited where a lack of communication between California authorities and ICE allowed an individual convicted of DUI to later kill a sheriff's deputy in another state.
• 🚨 The speaker argues that the federal government's stance on ICE and the "defund the police" movement create a situation where essential law enforcement cooperation is undermined.

State-Level Solutions and Federal Preemption

• 🏛️ In Kansas, a statute was enacted to preempt local authority and obligate compliance with federal immigration law, resolving the state's sanctuary issues.
• ❓ A question is raised about whether federal preemption should be eased to allow states and localities that want to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement to do so.
• 📈 The discussion touches on the idea that if federal government is limited in compelling states to become sanctuaries, it should also consider easing preemption for states that wish to cooperate with federal law.

Challenges in Federal-State Partnerships

• 🤝 The effectiveness of programs like 287(g), which require federal-state agreements, can be undermined by a hostile federal administration that stops cooperating.
• 📜 There's a call to ease preemption provisions in the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) to allow states to enact and enforce laws consistent with federal immigration policy.