Sweeping bill to crush sanctuary cities, protect ICE agents unveiled in Senate

FIRST ON FOX: A Senate Republican wants to kneecap sanctuary cities and provide more stringent protections for federal agents in a sweeping package designed to push back against disruptions to the Trump administration’s immigration operations. 

Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., plans to introduce his Protect America Act, a colossal legislative package that would punish sanctuary cities, enhance penalties for illegal entry and reentry, boost protections for federal agents, and defund “corrupt” nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), or nonprofits. 

The goal of the package is to cut into the unrest simmering in cities across the country where the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) are operating. 

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Schmitt’s legislation comes as anti-ICE protests continue around the country, most notably in Minneapolis, where agitators have clashed with federal agents, resulting in the fatal shootings of Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good.

“This environment demands action,” Schmitt said in a statement. “The Protect America Act is a comprehensive, four-part legislative response designed to address the root causes of disorder, restore lawful enforcement authority, protect federal officers from coordinated interference and violence, and prevent the abuse of nonprofit status to shield or support criminal activity.”

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The package would condition federal funding to sanctuary cities based on cooperation with ICE and federal law enforcement. Cities that don’t comply would lose their funding completely. 

It would also require that jails and detention centers coordinate with ICE to share the identity, immigration status and release timing for detainees, allow people to sue for civil liabilities if a “removable alien” is knowingly released within a sanctuary city and commits a serious crime, and halt new foreign student visas until jurisdictions comply with federal immigration law.

In a bid to bolster protections for federal agents, the package would close loopholes that allow people to use whistles or other devices to interfere with officers’ communications, impose penalties of up to five years in prison for people who obstruct federal agents’ duties, ensure that the First Amendment protections explicitly state that the “act does not prohibit expressive content or lawful expressive conduct,” and make assaulting a federal agent a federal criminal offense. 

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Schmitt’s legislation would also strengthen penalties for illegal entry and reentry into the country by ending catch-and-release and mandating detention, make illegal entry a felony, and boost penalties for illegal reentry to include fines and up to two years in prison. 

The fourth prong seeks to de-fang NGOs by revoking the tax-exempt status of any nonprofit that promotes, incites, or provides material support for criminal violence.

His legislative package comes as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and congressional Democrats offered their own, competing list of demands meant to rein in DHS and ICE, which they are demanding be considered and codified in exchange for their support of the now-sidelined Homeland Security funding bill.

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Schmitt and Senate Republicans haven’t taken well to many of the proposals from their counterparts, notably requiring ICE agents to get judicial warrants, de-masking federal agents and requiring full identification when in the field. 

“My view is we’re not doing any of this stuff until, unless, we end sanctuary city status, because that’s what’s causing all of this, is the lack of cooperation,” Schmitt said. “It’s the confrontations that are being created, and why you don’t see this in blue or red jurisdictions that aren’t sanctuary status. So this solution is very obvious. I think there’s a political grandstanding on their part.”