There are more than 1,000 jurisdictions across the United States that refuse to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement, a new study indicates, marking a drastic surge over the past several years.
The number of sanctuary jurisdictions have nearly doubled since 2018, with a total of 1,003 jurisdictions obstructing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as it attempts to enforce federal immigration law, the report from the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) found.
That figure, FAIR says, includes Washington, D.C., and 17 states that have state-wide illegal alien sanctuary policies.
“What started as a small movement has since been expanded by open-border advocates, resulting in a widespread trend that undermines federal immigration law and threatens national security,” FAIR pointed out in its report, also noting that sanctuary policies “pose a serious threat to the safety and security of the American people” and “conflict with federal law.”
From FAIR
“Our findings reveal that, prior to 2000, only 11 jurisdictions had adopted sanctuary policies. By 2009, that number had grown to 40,” FAIR says as it charts the growth in its report. “In 2016, it had surged to over 300, and by 2018, FAIR identified 564 jurisdictions as noncooperative.”
These jurisdictions impede federal immigration enforcement through a variety of different policies, including by barring jails from complying with ICE detainer requests, prohibiting law enforcement from asking about the immigration status of suspects, and denying federal immigration enforcement officers access to jails and prisons.
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Policies that seek to shield illegal aliens from federal law, FAIR says, violate the Constitution, which gives Congress authority over immigration and states that federal law wins out against conflicting state laws.
FAIR’s Research Director Michael Capuano introduces our report on sanctuary jurisdictions in the U.S. pic.twitter.com/sTFAmDM0ce
— Federation for American Immigration Reform (@FAIRImmigration) June 5, 2025
Some states have even offered deportation defense to illegal aliens in removal proceedings. While an Egyptian illegal alien was plotting a firebombing terrorist attack in Boulder, Colorado, Democrat lawmakers in the state were passing an immigration law that not only prevents local governments from sharing immigration data with federal authorities, but even fines violators and dedicates the money to a state-run deportation defense fund.
FAIR points out that other states, including Arizona, Tennessee, Texas, West Virginia, and the Dakotas, have taken action to prevent their jurisdictions from adopting illegal alien sanctuary policies. In total, FAIR says, “22 states have banned sanctuary policies, encouraging or even requiring local law enforcement officers and other officials to cooperate with federal immigration officials.”
Only three states, West Virginia, Arkansas, and Montana, “have succeeded in eradicating sanctuary jurisdictions within their borders,” FAIR notes, warning that local jurisdictions in the other states often defy anti-sanctuary policies. The organization specifically pointed to Georgia, North Carolina, and Iowa as states with defiant localities that are insistent on shielding illegal aliens from immigration law, calling on them to “do more to ensure that their anti-sanctuary laws are enforced to protect public safety and uphold the rule of law.”