UPDATED: Governor, AG open investigation into potential ‘sanctuary city’ violations in Helena

Montana’s governor and attorney general announced on Wednesday a formal investigation into the City of Helena to determine if a recently passed resolution to restrict the municipality’s cooperation with federal law enforcement violates a state law banning sanctuary cities.

In a joint press conference, Gov. Greg Gianforte said the resolution is “potentially a direct violation” of a law he signed in 2021 prohibiting local governments from creating sanctuary cities in the state.

Gianforte and Attorney General Austin Knudsen said they are contemplating penalties if the city is found to be breaking state law, and Knudsen said if cities don’t like the law, they’re welcome to try to change it.

“This is clearly the city council of Helena thumbing its nose at the Montana Legislature,” Knudsen said. “If the city of Helena does not like state law, I encourage it to retain counsel, get a lobbyist, come up here to the Capitol during the ‘27 legislative session and take its best shot at changing the law.”

In response to the investigation, the City of Helena said its resolution abides by local, state and federal law. Republican officials urged Helena and other cities to focus on issues under their domain, such as potholes, but a Democratic lawmaker from Helena called the investigation a PR stunt.

“We still have rights and freedoms in our country, and that includes people of color,” Sen. Mary Ann Dunwell told the Daily Montanan. “That’s the issue, here, not whether the city of Helena is violating a stupid, hate-filled, racist law.”

’We don’t tolerate defiance’

The law Gianforte signed was passed as House Bill 200 to prohibit sanctuary cities, which generally do not fully cooperate with federal immigration laws in order to protect the safety of all residents. 

Montana’s law says state agencies or local governments may not enact or enforce a policy that restricts government employees from “sending to, receiving from, exchanging with, or maintaining for a federal, state, or local government entity information regarding a person’s citizenship or immigration status for a lawful purpose.”

The Helena City Commission signed its resolution on Jan. 26 with overwhelming support from members of the public, as concern about aggressive federal immigration enforcement around the nation has increased and has affected even small communities in Montana. 

In a statement, the City of Helena said it was aware of an announcement from Gianforte’s office regarding a potential investigation into its city policy:

“At this time, the City has not received any official notice or formal communication from the Governor’s Office or the Montana Attorney General’s Office regarding this matter. As a general practice, the City does not provide comment on pending or potential litigation matters,” the City of Helena statement reads. It goes on to say the city remains committed to “upholding all applicable federal and state laws.”

The resolution states the city “shall not disclose” sensitive information about any person to outside agencies or individuals, including a person’s immigration status or national origin, except as required by local laws or with a valid court order.

According to Montana statute, violations of the sanctuary city law could lead to a $10,000 fine for every five days a local government is out of compliance, withholding of state funds including from the Montana coal board and coal board endowment program. 

According to reports from the Montana Coal Endowment Program, Helena has only received a grant for public infrastructure upgrades from the program once in the last 20 years, a $750,000 grant in 2019. 

“Today we send a clear message to all local governments across the state: If you are found to be in violation of state law, there will be penalties,” Gianforte said. “In Montana, we don’t tolerate defiance, and we support our local law enforcement.”

Gianforte said neither he nor the attorney general had initiated any conversations with Helena City Commission officials or the chief of police, but are basing the investigation on the public actions taken at the January meeting. 

A city official told the Daily Montanan there had been no indication an investigation was coming. 

The Helena resolution additionally supports the Helena police department’s policy to “not, independently or assisting other law enforcement agencies, stop, pursue, interrogate, investigate, arrest, or otherwise detain a person solely based on their immigration status or suspected violations of immigration law.” 

Knudsen said that part of the investigation will be whether existing city or police department policies are found to be violating state law and that “the penalties could be much more severe.”

“I’d suggest the city of Helena, you know, concentrate on enabling their law enforcement, maybe fixing some potholes, instead of trying to play national politics,” Knudsen said. 

If the attorney general’s investigation determines state law has been violated, legal action would be filed in Lewis and Clark County District Court. 

Helena targeted, other cities watched

Knudsen said to his knowledge, no other local government has formally taken action that might be a similar violation of law. He added that there has “been some concern” about Missoula, but he had done a cursory investigation, and no official policies had been implemented by Missoula city officials. 

In recent Missoula City Council meetings, Mayor Andrea Davis has commented on immigration action across the nation and said the role of Missoula’s city law enforcement is to “uphold our public safety here in our community, regardless of whether you’re a resident or whether you’re a guest.”

“We are not in the business of immigration enforcement. We have not been deputized as such, and we have not signed federal agreements to do as such,” Davis said. “That said, we do carry forth justice. And if there is a judicial warrant that is issued for somebody that does have a criminal sanction against them, no matter their immigration status, no matter if they’re a long time resident here or not, we will …move forward with justice for a judicial warrant.”

The city council has not considered or adopted any resolutions or policy affecting how law enforcement interacts with federal officers. 

In a meeting last month, police Chief Mike Colyer shared the department’s policies on immigration and on officer conduct, including wearing clearly identifiable name tags, not wearing masks except for safety instances such as extreme weather or a pandemic, and generally not operating in unmarked vehicles. 

In Great Falls, residents last week proposed a city resolution similar to Helena’s, but more focused on requesting federal agents de-mask and identify themselves during operations. 

It also would “prohibit city personnel or financial resources from being used for federal immigration enforcement.”

A Great Falls spokesperson on Wednesday said city staff had not received direction from the city commission to draft a resolution involving cooperation with federal law enforcement.

In Northwest Montana, the Flathead Beacon reports that community members have raised concerns to county and city officials about local cooperation with the Department of Homeland Security, but no actions have been taken by local governments.

During his press conference, Gianforte warned other cities against considering similar actions to Helena’s. 

“Local municipalities need to cooperate with federal authorities so that we do not harbor illegal immigrants in our communities,” Gianforte said. “We’ve seen Montanans suffer from the inflow of fentanyl. We’ve seen crime in our local communities. We’ve seen gang members apprehended in our local communities. Local jurisdictions cannot protect these criminals.”

Community advocates pushed back on the assertions that Montana’s immigrant population — both documented and not — are filled with criminal activity. 

“Show me the statistics that show that these folks are criminals, because I’m not hearing that,” said Valerie Hellermann, executive director of the Helena Area Refugee Resettlement Team, who works with immigrants in the community daily. 

Lawmakers offer support, criticism

Republican lawmakers voiced support for the investigation while a Helena-area Democrat criticised the move as a PR stunt.

Speaker of the House Brandon Ler said in a statement that sanctuary city policies undermine public safety and ignore the will of the Legislature.

“Sanctuary city policies put ideology ahead of public safety, and Montana made it clear years ago that we are not going down that road,” Ler, a Republican, said. “Cities don’t get to declare themselves above state law or decide they know better than the people’s representatives.”

Republican Senate President Matt Regier also voiced his support for the investigation. 

“The Legislature expects the executive branch to enforce the laws we pass,” Regier said in a statement. “Helena property taxpayers should be outraged at their local government for jeopardizing their hard-earned tax dollars for leftist ideology instead of putting the people’s money towards fixing potholes and shoring up local infrastructure.”

Meanwhile, Dunwell, a Democrat representing part of Helena whose residents spoke in favor of the Helena resolution at the commission meeting last month, called the investigation a “right-wing PR stunt, pure and simple.”

“The City of Helena is not violating HB 200,” Dunwell said. “What the City of Helena is doing is upholding our Montana and U.S. constitutional rights and freedoms. And that’s regardless of what race we are, creed we are, or country of origin. And those sacred documents supersede any legislation our right wing lawmakers pass in the Legislature and that our racist governor signs.” 

A spokesperson for Gianforte told the Daily Montanan that his priority is “to protect the safety and security of all Montanans,” and that Dunwell’s ”shameful, divisive rhetoric has no place in Montana.”

Sen. Laura Smith, another Helena-area Democrat who supported the resolution, did not respond to requests for comment by publication time.

Policies and Procedures

The Helena Police Department has been under the microscope following the arrest of Christopher Martinez, a Mexican national who eventually was deported despite it being a case of mistaken identity. During a meeting last month, public commenters said the department took community concerns seriously following the incident, which happened after an ICE agent requested Martinez be stopped by law enforcement.

The Helena Police Department did not respond to requests for comment on the investigation, but its policies and procedures manual also says in order to encourage crime reporting, individuals “regardless of their immigration status” have to feel like they can contact law enforcement and it will not automatically lead to “immigration inquiry and/ or deportation.”

An additional part of the Helena resolution says the city supports the police department requesting ID and asking federal officers to unmask “at the officers sole discretion.”

Knudsen said that part of the resolution has “no effect” but will be investigating all aspects of what the city passed.

“The city of Helena has absolutely no authority to tell federal law enforcement how they can dress or what kind of apparel they can wear,” Knudsen said.