A Senate bill criminalizes sanctuary cities and diminishes states’ rights

In Exodus 25:8, God commanded Moses: “Let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst.” But in Washington, Congress considers a bill known as the End Sanctuary Cities Act of 2026 (S. 3805) criminalizing obedience to the Biblical commandment. The measure would coerce states and localities into participation in Trump’s mass deportation.   

The sanctuary movement began in 1979 when the Los Angeles City Council implemented Special Order 40, preventing local police officers from conducting immigration-related arrests or even questioning individuals on their immigration status. Oregon has been a sanctuary state since 1987.  

According to the Department of Justice, 11 states and the District of Columbia are considered “sanctuary jurisdictions,” defined as areas that “materially impede enforcement of federal immigration statutes and regulations.” According to 2024 research, approximately 8 million immigrants living in the U.S. illegally reside in sanctuary jurisdictions.  

Sanctuary cities include polities like California, New York City, Chicago, Portland and Los Angeles that limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities. Minneapolis operates under a separation ordinance that limits but does not entirely ban cooperation.   

The End Sanctuary Cities Act is blatantly unconstitutional. Federal law may be the “supreme law of the land,” but the 10th Amendment provides that all powers not delegated to the federal government, nor prohibited to the states, are reserved for the states or the people. While federal law is supreme in immigration, states hold the independent authority to decide how their law enforcement interacts with federal immigration........

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