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Committee of SD lawmakers endorses ban on immigration sanctuaries

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Committee of SD lawmakers endorses ban on immigration sanctuaries

By Seth Tupper
Committee of SD lawmakers endorses ban on immigration sanctuaries
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State Sen. Casey Crabtree, R-Madison, on the South Dakota Senate floor during the 2024 legislative session. (Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight)

Sanctuary policies for undocumented immigrants will be banned in South Dakota if legislators adopt a bill that advanced out of a committee Thursday at the Capitol in Pierre.

The name “sanctuary” is often applied to policies that limit state or local cooperation with federal immigration authorities. The bill, from state Sen. Casey Crabtree, R-Madison, would prohibit such policies at the state and local levels. The legislation is based on a law passed in North Dakota. Other states have adopted similar measures, Crabtree said, including Montana, Wyoming and Iowa.

Crabtree said the bill is necessary to ward off policies being adopted in Democratic-leaning states as a backlash against President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.

“I believe it is time for the Legislature here in South Dakota to make clear that in our state, we will assist federal law enforcement to keep our communities safe,” Crabtree said.

The Senate Judiciary Committee, which has no Democratic members, voted unanimously to send the bill to the full Senate. There are nine Democrats in South Dakota’s 105-member Legislature, which means the party doesn’t have enough members to fill seats on all committees.

Nobody testified against the legislation during the committee hearing.

Taneeza Islam is CEO of South Dakota Voices for Peace, a Sioux Falls-based nonprofit that supports immigrants. In an interview with South Dakota Searchlight, she expressed concern about the state wading into local policies.

“If the Legislature can create policies for local law enforcement, what does that really mean, and does it open the door to let them continue to do that with other issues?” Islam said.

But she added that no South Dakota state or local agencies have adopted sanctuary policies and are unlikely to do so given the dominant position of Republicans across the state.

“So, at the end of the day, there is no impact, no effect, and this doesn’t add anything to make communities safer or make communities less safe,” Islam said.