As part of his crackdown on immigration, sanctuary cities across the country are firmly in President Trump’s crosshairs.

The president has threatened to weaponize federal funding for cities that that refuse to comply with ICE deportation requests. However, many sanctuary cities have refused to lie down and California has begun fighting back with a federal court ruling against the legality of withholding such funding.

But what are sanctuary cities exactly?  Where are they and why does the President want to crack down on them?

In the United States, a sanctuary city is a city that limits it’s cooperation with the federal government in order to help illegal immigrants (or undocumented immigrants) avoid deportation by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. Proponents of sanctuary policies maintain that they actually make cities safer by fostering positive relationships between undocumented immigrants and law enforcement.  Thus making them more comfortable in reported a witnessed crime or cooperating with them.

There is no uniform policy and different jurisdictions have varying degrees of pushback, but it may include not inquiring about immigration status, refusing to use local law enforcement resources to detain immigrants, or not complying with Federal laws (8 U.S.C.1373 specifically) that prohibits localities from enacting policy that limits communication with ICE agents about a persons immigration status.

Despite the nomenclature, often, sanctuary cities aren’t even cities at all, but entire counties or even entire states.   As of May, 2017, there are some 171 jurisdictions that have officially enacted sanctuary policies – the most common of which is refusal to honor ICE detainers without a warrant for the individual’s arrest.  Of those 171 jurisdictions, 37 are cities, four are states, the rest are counties.

There are 37 official sanctuary cities currently in the U.S. – and the number is growing by the week.  These cities have official policies aimed at discouraging full cooperation with federal immigration deportation and detainer requests.  There are, however,  other cities that are “run like a sanctuary city” but do not have official city policies – Salt Lake City, UT comes to mind. (Conversely, some major cities fall in counties that have adopted sanctuary policies but do not have any of their own).

Four states have enacted or are in the process of enacting sanctuary policies at the state level.

California – In April 2017, the California Senate passed Senate Bill 54, a sanctuary state bill that bars state and local law enforcement from using their resources to help federal immigration enforcement.

Connecticut – CT governor Dannel Malloy issued a memo instructing both law enforcement and school officials not to give ICE agents access to schools or jails and refrain from detaining immigrants solely based on immigration status.  In addition the Connecticut General Assembly has proposed H.B. No. 6709,  an act to make Connecticut a “sanctuary state” for immigrants, regardless of residency status.

New Mexico  – In January 2017, New Mexico lawmakers introduced House Bill 116, entitled No Local Enforcement of Federal Immigration Law.  The bill aims to prevent local or state resources being used“for the purpose of detecting or apprehending persons whose only violation of law is that they are persons of foreign citizenship who have entered or are residing in the United States in violation of federal immigration laws,” unless otherwise legally required to.  Currently, the sponsors of the bill are seeking revisions.

Colorado – In January 2017, House Bill 17-1230 was introduced by Colorado lawmakers. Labeled as “Protect Colorado Residents From Federal Government Overreach”, the would prohibit a state of local agency from assisting in detaining, creating or maintaining a registry,  or providing a persons immigration status to the federal government without determining it has a legal or constitutional purpose.

California

Alameda County Contra Costa County Los Angeles County Monterey County Napa County Orange County Orange County Riverside County Sacramento County San Bernardino County San Diego County San Francisco County San Mateo County Santa Clara County Santa Cruz County Sonoma County

Colorado

Arapahoe County Boulder County Denver County Garfield County Grand County Jefferson County Larimer County Mesa County Pitkin County Pueblo County Routt County San Miguel County Weld County Connecticut

East Haven

Florida

Clay County Hernando County

Georgia

Clayton County DeKalb County

Iowa

Benton County Cass County Franklin County Fremont County Greene County Ida County Iowa City, Johnson County Jefferson County Marion County Monona County Montgomery County Pottawattamie County Sioux County

Illinois

Cook County

Kansas

Butler County Harvey County Sedgwick County Shawnee County Story County

Maryland

Montgomery County Prince George’s County

Minnesota

Hennepin County

Nebraska

Hall County Sarpy County

New Jersey

Middlesex County Ocean County Union County

New Mexico

New Mexico County Jails

Nevada

Clark County Washoe County

New York

Franklin County Nassau County Omondaga County St. Lawrence County Wayne County

Oregon

Baker County Clackamas County Clatsop County Coos County Crook County Curry County Deschutes County Douglas County Gilliam County Grant County Hood River County Jackson County Jefferson County Josephine County Lane Countyn Lincoln County Linn County Malheur County Marion County

Virginia

Arlington County Chesterfield County

Washington

Chelan County Clallam County Clark County Cowlitz County Franklin County Jefferson County King County Kitsap County Pierce County San Juan County Skagit County Snohomish County Spokane County Thurston County Walla Walla County Wallowa County Whatcom County Yakima County

These lists are up to date as of May 2017, an are based on ICE reports of jurisdictions that have enacted policies, referendums, memos or otherwise stated that they will not fully cooperate with ICE detainer requests.