Arkansas Senate approves bill banning ‘sanctuary’ cities

April 5, 2019

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — The Arkansas Senate voted Friday to prohibit cities from refusing to cooperate with federal immigration authorities and threatening to cut off their funding if they adopt “sanctuary” policies, even though no city in the state has done so.

The majority-Republican Senate voted 24-5 for the bill, which would also prohibit cities from preventing local law enforcement from asking about someone’s immigration or citizenship status. Under the measure, a city would be ineligible for discretionary funds or grants administered by the state if the attorney general determines it is an illegal sanctuary city. The bill now heads to the majority-Republican House.

The Arkansas Municipal League, which opposes the measure, has said it doesn’t know of any city that has adopted sanctuary policies or is moving toward doing so. The Republican behind the measure said the penalties are needed to prevent any sanctuary cities from operating in the state.

“This is more a proactive measure to ward off something, some city in Arkansas saying, ‘hey, we’re going to set ourselves up as a sanctuary city,’” Sen. Gary Stubblefield said after the vote. “You do that and you do it at your own peril.”

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