WASHINGTON—The Republican-run House voted 224-194 on June 12 to nullify the district’s “sanctuary city” law. If their measure, one of three approved in two days that meddles with D.C.’s governance, clears the Republican-run Senate, it’ll negate widespread support for the sanctuaries for undocumented people.
Mayor Muriel Bowser inserted repeal of the sanctuary city law in her proposed budget for the fiscal year, which begins October 1. Her repeal plan drew a packed pro-sanctuary city crowd to the D.C. City Council earlier in June.
The House vote is also a loss for advocates of greater D.C. home rule, since the Nation’s Capital, thanks to the Constitution, has been under federal government whim since 1800 for everything from its budget to its court system to having a local government at all.
The sanctuary city ban joins two other measures curbing D.C.’s home rule. The House’s ruling Republicans pushed both through on June 11. Both override the D.C. voters’ and the council’s decisions. One would let non-citizens vote in city elections, but not in federal elections. The other would reduce the power of the city’s police chief to discipline rogue cops.
Left on the sidelines is a fourth D.C.-oriented measure: Closing a $1 billion hole in this year’s D.C. budget. Congress caused the hole earlier in President Donald Trump’s term by freezing all domestic spending at last year’s levels, including D.C.’s budget. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is sitting on the bill to close the hole.
Sanctuary cities nationwide are at the forefront of the debate over the estimated 11 million undocumented people in the U.S. The politically polarized House Oversight Committee hauled three sanctuary city mayors up to Capitol Hill earlier this year—including New York’s Eric Adams and Chicago’s Brandon Johnson, a former Chicago Teachers Union steward—for grilling.
The three held their own against the Republican onslaught, refuting assertions about gangs, looting, widespread crime, and the like with evidence countering those accusations. A rerun occurred before the same panel, on the same day the House voted to kill D.C.’s sanctuary city law. This time, Govs. Tim Walz, DFL-Minn., Kathy Hochul, D-N.Y., and J.B. Pritzker, D-Ill., endured a day of “gotcha” questions from the GOP and bitter back-and-forth between the two parties.
What seemed forgotten in the House debate over D.C.’s sanctuary city law, the “District of Columbia Federal Immigration Compliance Act,” was that Democrats also use the city to score political points. Most notably, the City Council revised D.C.’s criminal code to shorten sentences for some crimes. Republican pushback didn’t stop it, but Democratic President Joe Biden’s veto did.
Party positions in the House floor debate over D.C.’s law mimicked the stands in the two Oversight Committee hearings. The bill overturning D.C.’s sanctuary city law drew a 213-0 vote from Republicans, while Democrats opposed the overturn, 11-194.
The House bill (HR2056) not only bans D.C. from remaining a sanctuary city, but also orders the city police to share all information with federal authorities—in other words, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents—about undocumented people.
“Illegal alien criminals who threaten our communities have no right to be here in the first place,” declared Rep. James Comer, a white Texas Republican. “State and local governments must work with the Department of Homeland Security to share information on individuals they arrest. They must also honor lawful detainers. When they do not, Congress must act.”
The bill “ensures D.C. cooperates with federal immigration agencies, including ICE, to protect our citizens and nullifies prior attempts by the District to make itself a sanctuary city.”
“Let’s be clear: The District of Columbia is in full compliance with federal law,” retorted Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-Mass. “It does not obstruct ICE from carrying out its duties. D.C., like many other jurisdictions, limits its cooperation with federal immigration agencies to what federal law actually requires.” The key reason, said Lynch, is “immigration is a federal responsibility.”
But forcing police in D.C., or any other sanctuary city, to cooperate with ICE and become agents themselves, so to speak, hurts cities and crime-fighting, Lynch continued, quoting police chiefs. Such duties lessen community cooperation with police in catching real crooks and put unskilled and untrained police in an impossible position of pursuing undocumented people—or people whom ICE suspects.
That’s been the case in Los Angeles, though it was not mentioned in the House debate on the D.C. sanctuary cities law. In L.A., ICE injured and arrested Service Employees State President David Huerta, a citizen, hospitalizing him overnight. ICE then charged Huerta with a felony of obstructing government action.
D.C.’s non-voting delegate, veteran Democrat Eleanor Holmes Norton, introduced an unanimous letter from the 13-member D.C. City Council, defending the sanctuary city ordinance. “If D.C. residents do not like how the [council] members vote, residents can vote them out of office or pass a ballot measure. This is called democracy,” Norton reminded members.
Norton’s status itself is a reminder of the second-class citizenship of D.C.’s 710,000 residents, a population greater than that of several states. She can speak on the floor, but as a delegate, she can’t vote. And D.C., unlike a state, has no voting senators at all.
“Congress has 535 voting members,” in the House and Senate combined, Norton said. “None are elected by D.C. residents. If D.C. residents do not like how the members vote on local D.C. matters, residents cannot vote them out of office or pass a ballot measure. That is the antithesis of democracy.” Norton again pushed for D.C. to become the 51st state. She didn’t mention the budget hole, but Lynch did.
We hope you appreciated this article. At People’s World, we believe news and information should be free and accessible to all, but we need your help. Our journalism is free of corporate influence and paywalls because we are totally reader-supported. Only you, our readers and supporters, make this possible. If you enjoy reading People’s World and the stories we bring you, please support our work by donating or becoming a monthly sustainer today. Thank you!
CONTRIBUTOR
