Bill banning immigration sanctuary cities moves forward

BOISE — The Idaho Senate passed legislation banning immigration sanctuary cities, or similar moves by government entities, in a 28-7 vote Wednesday.

Sen. Dan Foreman, R-Moscow, sponsored the legislation, which would allow complaints to be filed with the attorney general if there’s an allegation that an entity has adopted or endorsed policies that would prohibit or discourage cooperation with federal immigration investigations and enforcement.

“This bill sets policy that the people of Idaho respect the law and will support and cooperate with those charged with enforcing it,” Foreman said.

He highlighted that cities in surrounding states have declared sanctuary status, meaning they would not cooperate fully with or limit resources put toward federal Immigration Customs Enforcement investigations or other ICE operations against undocumented immigrants.

Sen. James Ruchti, D-Pocatello, said during debate that he was concerned about the ability for anyone to bring forward a claim against a government agency or entity under the bill. Ruchti, an attorney, said usually when there’s a right to file a lawsuit, “it’s because trouble found you.”

“I’m starting to see a pattern in bills that are arriving to this body or across the rotunda, where private causes of action are being inserted into to the bill allowing people to seek trouble,” he said.

A bill to allow individuals to sue libraries or school districts if minors obtained materials considered obscene or harmful was introduced last week. Idaho also currently has in place an abortion law that allows family members of someone who obtained an abortion to sue the provider who performed the procedure after six weeks of pregnancy.

In regards to Foreman’s bill, Ruchti also said he didn’t feel the law was consistent with other actions made by the Legislature regarding “respecting” federal laws and mandates, which he said “has not been a priority” in past legislation. He also didn’t see it as a problem in Idaho.

“We’re creating more government, more requirements, when we really don’t have the issue that’s supposedly being addressed by this bill,” he said. “In other words, we found a solution, we just don’t have a problem yet.”

Foreman said the legislation would engender “support and respect of the law,” but it wouldn’t force individuals to cooperate or enforce federal immigration laws; it would prohibit leaders at organizations from explicitly directing employees from participating, he said.

“We’re not forcing anyone to do anything,” Foreman said.

Senate Pro Tem Chuck Winder, R-Boise, also noted the disparity between this bill and how the Legislature usually approaches federal laws, but he ultimately supported the bill.

Idaho has several Second Amendment sanctuary cities, which have said they would not enforce any federal gun laws that might infringe on the Second Amendment right to bear arms.

“Typically, we have been asked not to support the federal government rules,” Winder said, “and so maybe this is a slippery slope when we start picking the ones we want and not supporting the other ones, but I really do think that there’s some merits to what we’re trying to do here.”

Guido covers Idaho politics for the Lewiston Tribune, Moscow-Pullman Daily News and Idaho Press of Nampa. She may be contacted at lguido@idahopress.com and can be found on Twitter @EyeOnBoiseGuido.