New list of ‘sanctuary jurisdictions’ no longer includes Centre County or State College
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- DOJ removed State College and Centre County from sanctuary jurisdictions list.
- New list names 13 states, 4 counties, and 18 cities with sanctuary policies.
- Philadelphia is the only city in Pennsylvania included on the list.
The Trump Administration released a new list of “sanctuary jurisdictions” Tuesday and it no longer includes State College or Centre County.
The federal Department of Justice said the list includes states, cities and counties that have “policies, laws, or regulations that impede enforcement of federal immigration laws.” A previous list from the Department of Homeland Security — that was later removed — included both the borough and county.
Tuesday’s list includes 13 states, four counties and 18 cities. Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a release that sanctuary policies hinders law enforcement and puts citizens at risk.
“The Department of Justice will continue bringing litigation against sanctuary jurisdictions and work closely with the Department of Homeland Security to eradicate these harmful policies around the country,” Bondi said.
The release states the list is not exhaustive and will be updated as federal authorities gather further information.
“The federal government will assist any jurisdiction that desires to be taken off this list to identify and eliminate their sanctuary policies, so they no longer stand in opposition to federal immigration enforcement,” the release states.
When the borough and county were placed on the previous list, local officials said they received no explanation or notice from the government as to why, and pushed back on the sanctuary jurisdictions label.
“We comply with all relevant federal laws and regulations, and we regularly cooperate with federal law enforcement,” Commissioner Mark Higgins said during a board of commissioners meeting. “We’re waiting for correspondence from the federal government telling us what the metrics were to get on the list in the first place, and then hopefully some sort of instructions on how we could work our way off the list.”
In a statement during a June 2 State College borough council meeting, council president Evan Myers expressed frustration with the lack of clarification about the list, its removal and whether it will still be used.
And while Myers said the State College Police Department has a policy about not enforcing federal immigration law, that policy has been used as a reciprocal approach to law enforcement, with the borough leaving immigration law enforcement to ICE detainers.
“We wouldn’t expect ICE to come and enforce our traffic law or give out traffic tickets — it’s not their jurisdiction, like immigration measures are not in ours,” he previously said.
A request for comment to the borough was not returned by the time of publication. The county’s communications coordinator said that administrators and commissioners had not yet had time to “digest and respond to the updated list.”
Which states, cities and counties are on the list?
States
- California
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- District of Columbia
- Illinois
- Minnesota
- Nevada
- New York
- Oregon
- Rhode Island
- Vermont
- Washington
Counties
- Baltimore County, MD
- Cook County, IL
- San Diego County, CA
- San Francisco County, CA
Cities
- Albuquerque, NM
- Berkeley, CA
- Boston, MA
- Chicago, IL
- Denver, CO
- East Lansing, MI
- Hoboken, NJ
- Jersey City, NJ
- Los Angeles, CA
- New Orleans, LA
- New York City, NY
- Newark, NJ
- Paterson, NJ
- Philadelphia, PA
- Portland, OR
- Rochester, NY
- Seattle, WA
- San Francisco City, CA
