Cox: Anyone claiming Utah is a sanctuary state is using ‘fear and divisiveness’ to gain power

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox fielded a number of questions from constituents Tuesday evening during the first virtual town hall of the year — two dealt with immigration, including one from a woman who asked if Utah was a sanctuary state. 

Cox’s answer was a resounding “no.” Anyone who says otherwise, the governor said, is lying “to use fear and divisiveness to try to gain power.” 

LIVE NOW: Gov. Cox hosts a Virtual Town Hall. Tune in on X, Facebook, LinkedIn or YouTube. https://t.co/MQ9lNZ5VTa

— Utah Gov. Spencer J. Cox (@GovCox) March 13, 2024

Cox’s response comes as one of his gubernatorial opponents, Rep. Phil Lyman, R-Blanding, has made repeated and recent references to Utah’s “sanctuary status.” 

“Utah’s ‘sanctuary’ status puts every single Utahn in unnecessary danger. Why has our governor been adamant in his claim that we are not a sanctuary state?” Lyman wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, earlier this month. 

Last year, an ICE official in Utah penned an internal memo designating Utah a sanctuary state because several counties severed contracts with ICE that allowed them to hold migrants awaiting detention hearings in their jails. 

The memo implied that local police were releasing “violent immigrants,” according to Utah County Sheriff Mike Smith. But most of the migrants detained by ICE were not criminals — instead, they were under what’s called a civil hold, often awaiting a deportation hearing, Smith said. 

“We’re a criminal facility … we are not set up for civil holds,” Smith told Utah News Dispatch in February, noting that ICE has a list of procedures for civil holds that the jail couldn’t follow.

The memo was flagged by Riverton Mayor Trent Staggs, who is running for U.S. Senate. Utah officials, including Cox, pushed back on the claim and according to a report from KSL.com, ICE rescinded that memo. But it’s still referred to, notably by Lyman, as recent as Saturday.  

“As of March 6th, 2024 Utah retains its ‘sanctuary state’ designation. During the last few weeks, Utahns have been given a prologue of what’s to come if our ‘sanctuary’ status is not admitted to, addressed, and revoked. Every crime committed by an illegal alien is a crime that could have been prevented. As governor I will always put the safety and well being of legalized Utah citizens, first,” Lyman said. 

Cox on Tuesday told the audience watching on social media to “ignore the people that are lying to you.” 

“Utah is not a sanctuary state. It has never been a sanctuary state. It will never be a sanctuary state. And anyone who tells you otherwise, Connie, is lying to you. They’re lying to you because they want to use fear and divisiveness to try to gain power,” Cox said, speaking to the woman who asked the question. 

According to several groups, including the National Conference of State Legislatures and the American Immigration Council, there is no legal definition of a sanctuary state. Typically, it refers to a city or state that in some way does not contract with or cooperate with federal immigration officers, usually Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.

That could mean preventing local law enforcement from being deputized by ICE to carry out federal immigration law, policies that prohibit immigration detention centers, restricting city employees or police from asking about immigration status, refusing to allow ICE agents into jails without a warrant, or not contracting with ICE to use county jails as detention centers. 

Cox on Tuesday said the state works “very closely with the federal government and ICE.”