Op-ed: How to Break the Sanctuary States

The next Trump administration must force “sanctuary” states to stop nullifying American immigration law.

By Phillip Linderman on October 4, 2024

In 1832, President Andrew Jackson made it crystal clear that the state of South Carolina had no authority to “nullify” federal laws that it did not like. Not one to mince words, Old Hickory called such acts treason.

In enforcing the collection of national tariffs, Jackson called for federal troops and reminded South Carolina that “the power to annul a law of the United States, assumed by one State, [is] incompatible with the existence of the Union, [and] contradicted expressly by the letter of the Constitution.”  

In 2025, at the start of his second term, President Donald Trump must break the 13 states that currently shield foreign criminals from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The result of this unconstitutional non-cooperation is that ICE is unable to deport many thousands of dangerous criminal foreigners who are allowed to remain in the country to commit more crimes. These 13 “nullifying” states, as well as many other local government authorities all across the country, have adopted laws, rules, or policies that impede or prohibit all cooperation with ICE.

. . .

That is why I recommend the president order the Department of State to cease issuing student visas to all foreigners who seek to matriculate at universities and schools located in sanctuary jurisdictions. Foreign students overwhelmingly attend universities in sanctuary zones, and they bring billions of dollars to pay tuition and living expenses ($40 billion a year nationally).  

This steady stream of foreign students represents the Achilles’ heel of California, New York and Massachusetts—all three states representing major redoubts for non-cooperation with ICE. California alone has over 237,000 foreign students, and almost all of them pay the full tuition costs at the state’s overpriced universities.

Therefore, Trump should instruct his consular corps at U.S. embassies and consulates to cease issuing visas to all students seeking to enroll in universities in all 13 sanctuary states. The outrage will roar from China to India to Mexico. The visa pause should continue until ICE certifies the return to full cooperation of all state and local authorities on all deportation matters.

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[Read the whole thing at The American Conservative.]