This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Sanctuary city or not, Salt Lake City says it would be unconstitutional for President Donald Trump to withhold money from cities that won't support his immigration crackdown.
Mayor Jackie Biskupski announced Wednesday that Salt Lake City joined 33 other cities in a friend-of-the-court brief supporting Santa Clara, California's attempt to block Trump's Jan. 25 executive order.
The brief says the order's intent was confirmed by Trump himself: "[I]t is a 'weapon' to coerce cities, counties and states into becoming de facto agents of the Executive Branch, by threatening to entirely 'defund' them and deny them 'the money they need to properly operate as a city or a state.' "
The amicus brief says the order deprives cities of an appeals process, "seeks to usurp local police power and commandeer scarce city and county resources," and fails to define "sanctuary city."
Salt Lake City doesn't consider itself a sanctuary city because it doesn't have its own jail. The most widely used definition of a sanctuary city is one that refuses to detain violators of federal immigration policy. That's Salt Lake County's call, as jail operator, and it currently cooperates with federal authorities.
But Salt Lake City police do not enforce federal immigration policy. Its officers don't arrest or profile people based on their immigration status, and the department says doing so would lose the trust of community members whom it relies upon.
"From the moment it was proposed, this executive order has had an unsettling effect on cities because it asks local law enforcement to assume responsibilities which would jeopardize their ability to keep communities safe," Biskupski said in a news release posted to her blog. "Without definition or process, the Trump administration is demanding blind obedience while usurping local control and ignoring the Constitution."
Other cities to sign the brief include New Orleans; Chicago; Oakland, Calif.; Seattle; Los Angeles; Austin, Texas; Denver; Minneapolis; and Portland, Ore.
Matthew Piper