Proposal targets ‘sanctuary city’ policies in Louisiana

Conservative state lawmakers are once again targeting what they consider a lax approach to criminal justice in New Orleans. A bill the Louisiana Senate approved Wednesday would prohibit and invalidate any parish or municipal policy that establishes “sanctuary city” protections for undocumented immigrants.

Senate Bill 208, from Sen. Blake Miguez, R-New Iberia, does not mention New Orleans by name, but the city is the only one in Louisiana with a sanctuary policy in place. The New Orleans Police Department will not detain someone who is in the U.S. illegally unless there is a judge’s order or criminal warrant for their arrest. 

It’s an NOPD policy that has been in place since 2016. Then-Mayor Mitch Landrieu argued stricter local immigration enforcement could sour relations between police and the city’s Latinx community, discouraging law-abiding members from reporting violent crime and letting offenders go unprosecuted.

At the time, Landrieu deflected the sanctuary city label for New Orleans, explaining that the Trump administration had turned immigration law into a moving target and was unfairly blaming large cities for the federal government’s enforcement shortcomings. 

The proposed state law will not affect the federal consent decree the NOPD has operated under since 2012, according to Miguez. Sen. Royce Duplessis, D-New Orleans, offered an amendment to put that specific language in the bill, but the Senate rejected it. Miguez told Duplessis he would work to address his concerns when his bill is in the House of Representatives.

Mayor LaToya Cantrell’s office referred questions about the proposed legislation to the NOPD, which did not respond to a request for comment.

Miguez’s bill would not apply to witnesses or victims of crime, only to those undocumented immigrants who commit crime, he said.

If a city or parish doesn’t abide by the proposed law, the attorney general can sue in state court to compel their compliance. The state could also withhold money from a city or parish as punishment under the bill.

Miguez said his proposal does not require local police to enforce immigration law or investigate cases, acknowledging that is a federal responsibility. City and parish police would be expected to detain undocumented immigrants until federal agents are contacted who can take detainees into custody. 

That position potentially conflicts with Gov. Jeff Landry’s rationale for sending 150 Louisiana National Guard troops over the next nine months to Texas to assist local law enforcement with immigration enforcement. Louisiana’s Republican governor has endorsed the view of his Texas counterpart, Greg Abbott, who maintains the sovereign rights of states allow him to order his own National Guard to deter and apprehend migrants attempting to enter the U.S. illegally.