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Support for Trump’s mass deportations promised by blue state’s county commissioner
Douglas County Commissioner Chairperson Abe Laydon discussed with Fox News Digital the county’s resolution to support President Trump’s mass deportation plan.
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President Trump is taking on defiant sanctuary cities as he seeks to fulfill a vital campaign pledge to mass deport illegal immigrants while blue city leaders dig in their heels, resisting any form of assistance to federal authorities that could lead to migrants’ removal.
Tom Homan, Trump’s designated border czar, has promised to unveil a series of “game-changing” executive orders that have prompted sanctuary cities to cement their statuses as safe havens for migrants.
The cities, from Chicago to San Diego, have doubled down by reaffirming local ordinances to prohibit local law enforcement from assisting federal authorities in immigration removal operations.
President Trump put illegal immigration front and center in his inaugural address on Monday, promising: “All illegal entry will immediately be halted, and we will begin the process of returning millions and millions of criminal aliens back to the places from which they came.”
TRUMP TO DEPLOY MILITARY TO BORDER, END BIDEN PAROLE POLICIES IN FLURRY OF DAY ONE EXECUTIVE ORDERS
US President Donald Trump speaks during the 60th presidential inauguration in the rotunda of the US Capitol in Washington, DC, US, on Monday, Jan. 20, 2025. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
San Diego and Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, in November following Trump’s election win, formalized policies prohibiting city resources from being used to support federal deportation efforts and further solidifying its stance as a sanctuary city.
San Diego’s board of supervisors passed a similar policy that prohibits county agencies from working with federal immigration authorities. California’s history as a shelter for migrants was cemented in 2017 after former Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation making California a sanctuary state.
During Trump’s first term, he cut off hundreds of millions of dollars in law enforcement grants to sanctuary cities. The Biden administration restored the grants in 2021, Reuters reported.
San Diego County Supervisor Jim Desmond, a vocal critic of the state’s immigration policies, told Fox News Digital that he hopes to see “America return to the rule of law.”
“I will fight to secure our border and oppose any handouts or incentives that encourage illegal immigration,” he said. “We must put Americans first and uphold the integrity of our nation.”
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Mayor Mike Johnston recently announced major Denver city government budget cuts so that it may better deal with its migrant crisis. (RJ Sangosti/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images)
Denver, Colorado
Denver Mayor Mike Johnston made headlines after saying he would go to jail over his opposition to Trump’s mass deportation plan, sharing that he predicted a “Tiananmen Square moment” if federal immigration officials attempted to do their job.
“More than us having DPD stationed at the county line to keep them out, you would have 50,000 Denverites there,” Johnston said in the interview with Denverite. “It’s like the Tiananmen Square moment with the rose and the gun, right? You’d have every one of those Highland moms who came out for the migrants.”
But in a subsequent interview with 9News, he walked back those comments.
“Would I have taken it back if I could? Yes, I probably wouldn’t have used that image,” Johnston said. “That’s the image I hope we can avoid. What I was trying to say is this is an outcome I hope we can avoid in this country. I think none of us want that.”
But he said he was prepared to protest against anything he believes is “illegal or immoral or un-American” in the city — including the use of military force — and was then asked if he was prepared to go to jail for standing in the way of policies enacted by the administration.
“Yeah, I’m not afraid of that, and I’m also not seeking that,” Johnston said. “I think the goal is we want to be able to negotiate with reasonable people how to solve hard problems.”
Denver has seen an unprecedented influx of migrants arriving in the city under former President Biden’s administration, and Johnston has slashed city services to house and feed migrants.
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Foreign nationals were arrested this week during a targeted enforcement operation conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) aimed at immigration fugitives, re-entrants and at-large criminal aliens February 9, 2017 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Bryan Cox/U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement via Getty Images)
Chicago, Illinois
On Sunday, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s opposition rang loud and clear when he vowed to oppose Trump’s plans.
“Chicago stands strong: regardless of the circumstances, our commitment to protecting and supporting this city remains unwavering,” Johnson wrote in a social media post on Sunday. “We will continue to fight for the justice and safety of all who call this place home.”
Johnson’s statement came after he assured the city would continue to comply with the 2017 Illinois Trust Act, which prohibits local law enforcement from participating in federal immigration enforcement.
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Boston, Massachusetts
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu reiterated Boston’s status as a sanctuary city following Trump’s election, saying that she doesn’t want migrants to “retreat into the shadows.”
“The last thing we want is for people who are part of our economy, part of our school system, part of our community and the fabric of our city, to feel that all of a sudden they have to retreat into the shadows,” Wu said during an interview on WCVB’s On The Record.
Like many sanctuary cities, Boston passed legislation prohibiting local law enforcement from asking people about their immigration status or sharing information with ICE. The Boston Trust Act was signed into law in 2014 under Mayor Marty Walsh, and amendments were made in 2019.
“The Boston Trust Act puts strict prohibitions on local law enforcement from being pulled into becoming the enforcement arm for the whims of whatever the sort of approach of the federal immigration law might be,” Wu said during an interview on WGBH.
Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey has echoed the Boston mayor’s sentiment, saying that the Massachusetts State Police would “absolutely not” assist in immigration enforcement.
MAJOR BLUE CITY MAYOR SILENT AFTER ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT USES SHELTER FOR CRIMINAL ACTIVITY
WATCH TRUMP’S BORDER CZAR ON DEPORTATION PLANS:
The Wall Street Journal reported Friday night that Trump’s team is planning an immigration raid in Chicago to begin on Tuesday morning, citing four sources familiar with the planning. Between 100 and 200 officers will be there to carry out the operation, which will last all week, the Journal reported.
We’re going to take the handcuffs off ICE …
Trump’s incoming border czar Tom Homan promised large-scale raids as part of Trump’s crackdown on immigration.
“We’re going to take the handcuffs off ICE and let them go arrest criminal aliens, that’s what’s going to happen,” Homan said Friday on Fox News’ “Jesse Waters Primetime.” “What we’re telling ICE: You’re going to go enforce the immigration law without apology. You’re going to concentrate on the worst first, public safety threats first, but no one is off the table. If they’re in the country illegally, they got a problem.”
“There are going to be big raids all across the country,” Homan continued. “Chicago is just one in many places. If we got 24 field offices across the country on Tuesday, you can expect ICE.”
WATCH:
While there are key sanctuary cities that are intent on dissuading Trump’s policy plan, there are pockets of cities and states intent on assisting Trump.
In Colorado, Douglas County’s board of commissioners approved a resolution in support of Trump’s mass deportation plan. The unanimous vote confirmed the county, which is neighboring the sanctuary city of Denver, as a “non-sanctuary county.”
CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF THE BORDER SECURITY CRISIS
“We are going to follow and adhere to federal immigration law,” Douglas County Chairperson Abe Laydon told Fox News Digital. “We will continue to support the U.S. Constitution and follow federal immigration law.”
“We want to empower our local law enforcement, our sheriff’s office, and communicate with federal immigration officials, to get information and keep people safe in our community,” he said. “The three of us, as the board of county commissioners, are going to hold the line in Douglas County and ensure that our community stays safe.”
Migrants, many from Haiti, are seen at an encampment along the Del Rio International Bridge in Del Rio, Texas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
In the border state of Texas, Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham offered the administration a tract of more than 1,400 acres to stage its mass deportation operation.
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Her letter to Trump, obtained by Fox News Digital, says her office is “fully prepared to enter into an agreement with the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or the United States Border Patrol to allow a facility to be built for the processing, detention, and coordination of the largest deportation of violent criminals in the nation’s history.”
Fox News Digital has reached out to the mayor’s offices in Boston, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Chicago and Denver.
Fox News’ Michael Dorgan and Adam Shaw contributed to this report.
Sarah Rumpf-Whitten is a breaking news writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business.
Story tips and ideas can be sent to [email protected] and on X: @s_rumpfwhitten.
Related Topics
- Trump’s First 100 Days
- Immigration
- Illegal Immigrants
- Sanctuary Cities
- Chicago
- Los Angeles
- San Diego
- Denver
- Boston
- US