Question

What is federalism? Taking the issue of Sanctuary Cities- Should State and Local Government be compelled comply with Federal Decrees concerning illegal immigration? Remember that immigration that is wholly within the powers of the Federal government by the Constitution. Argue your answer.

Answer 1

Federalism, a style of political organisation that in an overall political structure unites different states or other policies in a way that allows each one to protect his or her own dignity. Federal structures achieve this by requiring simple policies to be made and enforced in some way by agreement, so that all participants can share decisions in making and implementing them. The political values that animate federal structures emphasise the primacy of multiple power centres to negotiate and negotiate coordination; they emphasise the virtues of scattered power centres as a way to preserve individual and local freedoms.
The Written Constitution
First, by a perpetual covenant of union, usually expressed in a written constitution that specifies the terms by which power is divided or shared, the federal relationship must be formed or confirmed; only extraordinary procedures may change the constitution.

These constitutions are unique in that they are not only compacts between the rulers and the governed, but include the citizens, the general government, and the federal union states. In addition, the constituent states also hold constitution-making powers of their own.
Non-centralizing
Secondly, by actually diffusing power between a number of significantly self-sustaining centres, the political structure itself must represent the constitution. Such a power diffusion can be called noncentralization

This has two aspects: the use of regional divisions to ensure neutrality and equality in the representation of the various political parties and interests, and the use of these divisions to ensure local autonomy and representation within the same civil society for different groups.
Elements for Union Maintenance
In general, modern federal structures provide direct contact lines between the citizenry and all the governments that serve them. People can and usually elect all governments' members, and all of them can and usually oversee services that directly benefit the individual person.

One of the attributes separating federations from leagues or confederations is the presence of these direct lines of communication. It is traditionally based on a sense of mutual nationality that brings constituent policies and individuals together.

Should State or Local Governments Help Enforce Federal Immigration Laws?

General Reference

Advantages

The Congressional Research Service (CRS), in a Mar. 11, 2004 report entitled “Enforcing Immigration Law: The Role of State and Local Law Enforcement,” offered the following:

“States and localities bear the primary responsibility for defining and prosecuting crimes. But beyond enforcing the laws or ordinances of their state or locality, state and local officials may also have the authority to enforce some federal laws, especially criminal laws. Immigration law provides for both criminal punishments (e.g., alien smuggling, which is prosecuted in the courts) and civil violations (e.g., lack of legal status, which may lead to removal through a separate administrative system). The states and localities have traditionally only been permitted to directly enforce the criminal provisions, whereas the enforcement of the civil provisions has been viewed as a federal responsibility with states playing an incidental supporting role.”

Public protection is promoted by collaboration with federal immigration authorities. In dealing with crimes including transnational gang violence, human trafficking, smuggling, drug-related offences, and other serious crimes frequently connected to illegal immigration, state and local law enforcement are also on the front lines. If federal immigration authorities are not contacted by state and local law enforcement, illegal immigrants may reenter communities and engage in more criminal activity at the expense and protection of people and lawful immigrants. ICE has nearly 20,000 officials and about 6,000 of these officials are involved in the country's domestic immigration law enforcement. That means illegal immigrants outnumber ICE agents by 2,000 to 1, given current estimates. Therefore, the cooperation and assistance of over 900,000 state and local law enforcement officers currently serving in our nation makes it possible for immigration enforcement to work even more effectively and as Congress intends.

Collaboration with federal immigration officials facilitates public safety. State and local law enforcement are also on the front lines of dealing with crimes such as transnational gang warfare, trafficking in human beings, smuggling, drug-related crimes, and other serious crimes also linked to illegal immigration. If state and local law enforcement is not contacted by federal immigration officials, illegal aliens can re-enter communities and engage in more criminal activity at the expense and safety of individuals and legal aliens. ICE has about 20,000 officials and about 6,000 of these officials are active in domestic immigration law enforcement in the country. Which means, given current figures, illegal immigrants outnumber ICE agents by 2,000 to 1.

Disadvantages

Cities and states have varying local compliance plans for federal immigration regulations, and local resource spending for collaboration with ICE compliance initiatives. Such initiatives aim to maintain trust between local law enforcement agencies and the communities they represent, which is compromised when residents fear that federal immigration laws will be enforced by local law enforcement. These initiatives often aim to protect the limited financial resources that state and local governments have access to. While they take several forms, these policies include restrictions on local law enforcement making arrests based on immigration violations, restrictions on local law enforcement obtaining immigration status information, compliance with ICE detainers, and sharing with ICE certain information, including the detention status of a person or the date of release from local detention.

Under the Constitution's Tenth Amendment and Spending Provision, any future attempts by the federal government to restrict or defeat these municipal initiatives will undoubtedly face challenges. Any efforts to require local law enforcement specifically to comply with ICE detainers or other requirements of enforcement are likely to be struck down. Under the Budget Provision, attempts to cut off all federal funds to municipalities with municipal policies restricting municipal compliance will probably be considered to surpass Congressional authority, as will attempts to eliminate broad, general grants unrelated to immigration enforcement.
Local police immigration enforcement will likely have a detrimental impact on and weaken the level of faith and collaboration between local police and immigrant communities. If the primary concern of the illegal immigrant is that they will be detained or subject to an immigration status investigation, they will not come forward and provide the assistance and cooperation required.

Enforcement of federal immigration laws would be a burden that most major police agencies would not be able to bear under current resource levels ... Any individual's particular immigration status can vary greatly and it would be very difficult if not almost impossible for the average patrol officer to determine whether they are actually in violation of the complex federal immigration regulations At this time , local police departments are poorly trained to venture into the complex field of immigration enforcement in terms of preparation, expertise and money.

Conclusion

The value of the right of states and localities to influence immigration compliance must be understood by politicians and advocates. It is important that they consider the desires and desires that promote or prevent the channelling of immigrants into the federal immigration compliance system by state and local authorities. With such diverse interests in mind, local governments could be better able to persuade lobbyists and politicians to reject or renege such relationships.