The Department of Homeland Security on Thursday released a list naming more than 500 cities, counties and states it considers “sanctuary” jurisdictions that could face funding cuts for not cooperating with federal immigration authorities — and Fresno was among them.
Fresno has never officially declared itself a sanctuary city. Fresno County, where the sheriff has pushed for increased cooperation with ICE, was not included on the list. It was one of only 10 counties in California to be excluded.
“It’s unclear to me how the City of Fresno ended up on a Department of Homeland Security list of jurisdictions that allegedly have obstructed federal immigration enforcement,” said Mayor Jerry Dyer in a statement to Fresnoland.
“Fresno is not, by any definition, a sanctuary city,” the Republican mayor said Friday. “We are awaiting clarification from DHS to better understand the basis for this designation and will determine our next steps once we have more information.”
In a statement to Fresnoland, a DHS spokesperson did not acknowledge the list’s inaccuracies but said the designation of a sanctuary jurisdiction is based on several factors, including whether a locality identifies as one, limits cooperation with federal immigration enforcement, restricts information sharing, or provides legal protections for immigrants.
Sanctuary cities limit how much local officials can ask about a person’s immigration status or assist federal agents with immigration enforcement. This makes it harder for the administration to arrest undocumented immigrants and complicates President Donald Trump’s efforts to carry out mass deportations.
Many red cities and counties scattered across the Central Valley and the North State also landed on Trump’s list for reasons that remain unclear
Clovis, which recently considered declaring itself an anti-sanctuary city, was not included on the list. Huntington Beach, however, which officially declared itself a “non-sanctuary city” in January, did make the list.
The list comes after the Trump administration signed an executive order on April 28, directing DHS and the Department of Justice to publish the list regularly and identify federal grants or contracts to suspend for the jurisdictions named.The press release states that each place on the list will get an official notice about not following the rules and any possible violations of federal law. The list will actively be reviewed, regularly updated, and can be changed at any time.
This article first appeared on Fresnoland and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.