With the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump on the horizon, it is time to start thinking critically about policy changes — including those of a central campaign issue: immigration.
Sanctuary cities are an integral component of how undocumented immigrants are protected in Minnesota, and thus Minneapolis should be preserved as one.
The positive impact migrants have on the Minnesota community is well-documented: They work essential jobs in industries such as construction, hospitality, and agriculture, and also contribute greatly to the culture of the communities where they live.
I come from immigrants. My father, who is a highly educated cardiologist, is an immigrant. Most of my family are immigrants. I grew up with immigrants from all over the world — Ukraine, Korea, the Philippines, Lebanon, and so many more; they are some of my best friends to this day. I cannot imagine my life without immigrants.
So I have seen it myself: immigrants are some of the most hardworking people in the United States. They don’t “take” from this country. If anything, I have only seen them give. So why wouldn’t we protect something we gave to them, too?
But immigrants are still not safe.
Donald Trump has repeatedly vowed to take action restricting both lawful and unlawful immigration in the country, having already issued threats to use military force against and to withhold significant federal funding from sanctuary cities.
He hasn’t been all talk, either; on January 25, 2017, of his first term in office, he signed Executive Order 13768, which according to the American Immigration Council “announced a massive expansion of interior immigration enforcement.” It “[defined] enforcement priorities so broadly as to place all unauthorized individuals at risk of deportation, including families, long-time residents, and ‘Dreamers’ (those who were brought to this country as children.)”
Understandably, fear has already settled over countless migrants; who is to say that he won’t issue a similar executive order during his second term? Ma Elena Gutierrez, director of the charity Fe y Justicia, told Southside Pride recently that after the results of the election, she received calls from immigrants in Minneapolis seeking guidance on what to do next.
And immigrants aren’t the only ones who stand to lose something — entire cities do, too. Larger cities such as New York City, could lose billions if the incoming Trump administration targets their federal funding over their sanctuary city policies. Minneapolis could also face a budget hit.
Beyond that, these immigrants have raised children rightfully born in the United States. Their deportation will have obvious, serious consequences to these families and the communities they belong to. The little support they are given cannot be taken away, and most of that doesn’t come from the city itself but from smaller organizations within the area, such as churches, charities, or refugee centers.
Now, in the face of hostile warnings from the Trump administration, they are forced to fall back on each other and seek support from organizations such as the ACLU. These groups are the last pillar holding undocumented immigrants up.
Diane Haines, spiritual director at the Mayflower United Church of Christ — which is a sanctuary community — in Minneapolis, is in accordance with this.
“There is no safety net for them,” she told me during an interview in December. “When they come across the border and find their way to Minnesota, there are no housing benefits nor food benefits. The only [benefit] I can think of is how the kids can go to school, but they’ve got to find jobs.”
According to Haines, it usually takes about six months for these migrants to get a work permit, “but in the meantime, they have all these needs. Where are they going to live? How is it going to get paid for?”
Haines herself has taken several trips to the border in the past 10 years, doing work with the church. This month, she and other Mayflower members will travel to the border wall alongside a pastor from the United Church of Christ.
There, they will visit a shelter to find out the condition of those waiting to be interviewed at the border. Additionally, they will speak to the sheriff of Arizona, a journalist writing for The Border Chronicle, and a Native American man who lives in the area in order to get several perspectives about how the wall negatively affects more than just those waiting at the border.
She points out how the Mayflower Church is a pioneer of advocacy as well — and that is how we get into the topic of the North Star Act.
Versions of the bill, which would limit state and local cooperation with federal agencies on civil immigration enforcement, were introduced in 2021 and 2024. While the bill failed to pass both times, the Minnesota Legislature is set to convene again on Tuesday, January 14, opening the possibility of the North Star Act resurfacing.
Haines and her fellow church members are “terrified” of Trump’s second term and for what it entails for migrants, emphasizing that what he is “trying to do…[is] not legal.”
“We’re trying to get organized,” Haines affirms. “We need to get together…with immigrants to find out what they need from us. How can we best support them?”
The answer to this question is a complicated one. Because visible change can only happen at a state level, most of the responsibility lies with our legislators, local elected officials, and local police.
Simply reemphasizing our commitment to protecting immigrants is of the utmost importance, but pushing the North Star Act back to the forefront of legislators’ work and making it a priority during meetings as the inauguration approaches will raise it as a relevant issue.
Educating yourself on foreign policy (especially that of Trump) and volunteering at local organizations that support migrants can go a long way. You can spread awareness about sanctuary cities, their purpose, and their relevance today.
