JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
Los Angeles has one of the highest undocumented populations in the country. The city has voted to approve a sanctuary city ordinance. It would protect the immigrants living in LA, and it comes in response to incoming President Donald Trump's promise to start mass deportations as soon as he takes office. Several other cities and states are taking a similar stance, and NPR's immigration correspondent, Jasmine Garsd, has been keeping track of it all. Hi there.
JASMINE GARSD, BYLINE: Hi.
SUMMERS: Jasmine, start, if you can, by just telling us - how would this ordinance protect immigrants living in the city?
GARSD: So California has the largest number of undocumented immigrants in the country. And this policy would prohibit using city resources to carry out federal immigration enforcement. And there are already hundreds of sanctuary cities and counties in the U.S. Several have recently doubled down on this position.
SUMMERS: So here's a question I've got. You mentioned the word federal, and immigration is a federal issue, right? So how much power does an ordinance like this actually have?
GARSD: You're right. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, is federal. So the sanctuary designation often doesn't have legal teeth. Earlier today, Tom Homan, who President Trump has appointed as border czar, said on Fox News that while local officials are not obligated to help the federal government, they cannot interfere with ICE agents.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "FOX AND FRIENDS")
TOM HOMAN: They don't want to help us, get the hell out of the way. We're going to do it. If I got to send twice as many of resources to that city, that's what we're going to do.
GARSD: However, due to resource constraints, ICE does rely very heavily on the cooperation of states and counties. So for example, for decades now, there has been a program of collaboration between local police departments and ICE. It's called 287(g). The federal government cannot force a police department to participate, but over 130 jurisdictions choose to.
SUMMERS: You've been doing a lot of reporting on the impact of mass deportation promises on mixed-status families in America. How do people who live in sanctuary cities feel?
GARSD: So many NPR listeners have written in, sharing their stories. One woman, Daisy Ruiz, told me she grew up in New York, which is a sanctuary city. And she is a U.S. citizen, but her mom was not. And so she says, when she was a child...
DAISY RUIZ: I would just stay awake in the middle of the night, looking at the door. And I was so scared that ICE was going to come and take my mom away. It did leave psychological issues for me. Like, I still have a lot of anxiety.
GARSD: All this to say, sanctuary city or not, these promises of mass deportation - they have real effects on communities and on American citizens as well.
SUMMERS: Jasmine, how has President-elect Trump reacted to sanctuary cities and states?
GARSD: So early on in his administration - his earlier administration - Trump issued an executive order to withhold funding from sanctuary cities. That was deemed unconstitutional. He signaled that, this time around, he's going to ask Congress to outlaw sanctuary cities. And I think it's going to come down to a battle between resources and local officials.
SUMMERS: That's NPR's Jasmine Garsd. Thanks so much.
GARSD: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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