How the sanctuary movement offers lessons for fighting ICE: ‘an impact that spans decades’

A demonstration to protect the District of Columbia as a sanctuary city, in Washington DC on 4 April 2025. Photograph: Roberto Schmidt/AFP/Getty Images

When Donald Trump fired Department of Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem on Thursday, she said sanctuary cities had made her job hard.

“Sanctuary cities do give us a challenge because it makes it difficult at times for law enforcement to do their work,” she told local police executives from across the country at a conference in Nashville. “And we see that many times when a city cooperates with the federal government, cooperates with our federal officers, that it is safer.”