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As Republican leaders like Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis line up behind President Donald Trump’s illegal immigration crackdown, Democrats are showing cracks of their own – split between those digging in against ICE cooperation and others urging a more pragmatic approach.
Some of the party’s loudest voices remain firmly opposed. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker has clashed repeatedly with Trump over immigration raids in his state, while Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner has vowed his city won’t cooperate.
“We have an authoritarian president who’s a criminal,” Krasner said earlier this year regarding the sanctuary city’s position against cooperating with ICE.
The Democrat, up for reelection in November, added: “The feds can’t commandeer state law enforcement and make them do Nazi stuff” – while Pritzker has warred directly with Trump over efforts to conduct both immigration and law enforcement operations in Illinois.
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In Pennsylvania, state Rep. Abigail Salisbury took considerations one step further and announced a bill in the Democratic-majority State House to largely ban the Pennsylvania State Police from cooperating with ICE.
Salisbury, who holds “The Squad” member Rep. Summer Lee’s former seat and also represents Sen. John Fetterman’s hometown of Braddock, warned cooperation with ICE will drain critical resources from state troopers.
She said in a statement that PSP joining any 287(g) agreement – a federal policy that permits deputizing of state law enforcement – “would only increase workloads, further burden taxpayers and decrease trust by the communities who rely on our state troopers.”
In response to her home, Swissvale Borough passing a resolution decreeing it will not enable assistance to ICE for civil matters but will enforce any criminal warrant from a judge, Salisbury said on Facebook, “This is what being on the right side of history looks like.”
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“People so frequently ask me what they can do to fight fascism on a local level. I am extremely proud to say that my borough did just that today,” she said.
Reached for comment, a public information officer for the PSP said troopers “abide by internal regulation[s]” governing enforcement of immigration law and detention of foreign nationals.
“The regulation states that immigration law enforcement ‘falls exclusively within the authority of the Department of Homeland Security’ – which includes ICE and CBP.”
The PSP was sued in 2019 by the ACLU on behalf of several Latino motorists in a case that alleged troopers targeted some drivers based on their ethnicity and inquired about immigration status.
In a settlement, the plaintiffs were awarded $865,000 and police revised policies like AR-7-14 to outline that ICE detainers were no longer justification for an arrest, prohibit the running of immigration checks as part of ID-verification and declare that troopers are not responsible for enforcing federal civil immigration law.
The settlement put police at a unique disadvantage regarding any future work with the feds, while Salisbury said in announcing her legislation it aims to codify PSP’s agency policy directly into state law:
“Policies don’t carry the force of law, however, and they can change over time. With so much at stake, it’s important for us to codify the existing policy.”
On the other side of the country, Rep. Gabe Vasquez sounded a more conciliatory tone toward immigration reform, telling NewsNation that as a border district congressman in New Mexico, the issue is very close to home.
Asked if Democrats are ready to “embrace the enforcement side” of immigration policy, Vasquez said the party is prepared to come to the table.
“Democrats are ready, and as a border Democrat who has 180 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border… and I’m a Mexican-American – [I understand] the complexities on both sides,” he said.
He said that he remains opposed to some of Trump’s “mass deportation” operations that have targeted migrants working in restaurants and on job sites – calling such raids “draconian.”
He said those people supposedly do not have the proper documents to work in the U.S., and that instead the solution should be to facilitate “giv[ing] them the right documentation – let’s vet them.”
“So, working with Customs and Border Protection and local officials, we know what the right investments are.”
One area not being focused on as much, he suggested, is the prospect of scanning 100% of all cargo coming across commercial highway ports-of-entry into the southwestern U.S.
“[That] is the largest source of drugs coming into this country,” he said, adding that Congress has the power to change that through the appropriations process.
Meanwhile, Fetterman, too, has voiced support for ICE’s work, saying it “performs an important job for our country.”
“Any calls to abolish ICE are inappropriate and outrageous,” he said, garnering praise from some Republicans.
In New York, Mayor Eric Adams’ attempts to allow ICE access to Riker’s Island prison were blunted by a judge this week, as well.
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