Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan announced he would not fight the Trump administration’s campaign to deport illegal immigrants.
During the 2025 Detroit Policy Conference, Duggan said that while he supported lawful immigration, the city would not resist Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents’ efforts to remove people in the United States illegally.
“Detroit is not a sanctuary city,” Duggan said. “We are a welcoming city. A welcoming city means if you are in this country lawfully as an immigrant, we encourage you to come here. We support your success. If you are in this country illegally, we should not be shielding you from ICE and federal enforcement, and the city of Detroit does not do so.”
Duggan is a longtime Democrat who was first elected mayor in 2013. He announced in December 2024 that he would run as an independent candidate in Michigan’s 2026 gubernatorial election.
Duggan said Thursday that Detroit law enforcement would work in tandem with President Donald Trump’s effort to remove people who are in the country illegally and have criminal records.
“ICE has a list of who they’re looking for who are illegal immigrants, who have committed crimes,” Duggan said. “And when one of the people we’ve arrested comes up, they will contact us, and if we have them in custody at the Detroit detention center, we will turn them over to ICE.”
Since Trump was inaugurated last week, ICE has conducted several operations across the country that have resulted in the arrests of many illegal immigrants who have committed crimes. The agency made nearly 1,000 such arrests during an operation Sunday.
Duggan confirmed Thursday that ICE had not yet conducted any operations targeting illegal immigrants in his city.
His friendly tone toward the federal agency comes as Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) has led Democratic opposition to Trump’s announced plans to increase punishments for illegal immigration.
However, similar to Duggan, other Democrats, including Gov. Maura Healey (D-MA) and New York Mayor Eric Adams, have signaled a willingness to work with the Trump White House.
Duggan said Detroit’s position on ICE simply followed the precedent the city set under previous Democratic and Republican administrations in Washington.
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“Under Biden, probably once a week, ICE would come over and pick somebody up,” the mayor said. “ICE was arresting illegal immigrants who committed crimes and deported. So the fact that they’re present is not new.
“That was true under Obama, that was true under Trump, that was true under Biden. We have always cooperated with ICE.”