In Focus

Let’s create mass panic without doing any actual research first—thanks, American government.

Homeland Security released a list of sanctuary jurisdictions—cities and counties—“that are deliberately obstructing federal immigration laws and putting American citizens in danger.”

This list was dropped at the end of last week, and it could go one of two ways for those mentioned: either it would get ignored until Monday or it would cause widespread panic.

After talking with a commissioner, I think Todd County is definitely in the panic category, which is a good thing. County officials jumped on the phone and started reaching out to the feds to find out why they’re on this list and how to get off it. But, as usual with the federal government, their calls went unanswered. Our area rep is doing his best to get some answers, though.

The big problem with this list is that it threatens potential cuts in federal funding, even more than what they’re already proposing. I tried to research the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) criteria for making this list but couldn’t find any clear answers. It seems like it has to do with policies that might limit how information about undocumented immigrants gets shared with federal authorities.

I do not know what kind of policies the county has. Would the county flat-out refuse to work with federal immigration authorities? I really doubt it. Is it because there’s a large Hispanic population here? Maybe.

Todd County is a “sanctuary” county for the Second Amendment. Not too long ago, Todd County Commissioners passed a resolution saying they won’t use resources to enforce unconstitutional restrictions on the right to bear arms, and they’ll do everything legally possible to defend residents’ Second Amendment rights.

There’s a huge distinction here that doesn’t relate to undocumented immigrants. My guess is that DHS saw the term “sanctuary,” tossed us onto their non-compliant list, and called it a day.

This so-called “comprehensive” list raises a ton of questions. They don’t provide any specifics or show any actual policies from these counties to back up their claims. As far as I can remember, there hasn’t been any discussion from the commissioners about anti-immigration or sanctuary policies in the almost 12 years I’ve been working for the paper.

There’s a lot of misinformation coming from the federal government, with hardly any fact-checking and no reputable sources cited. Some names on this list are even misspelled! Like Cincinnati, which was incorrectly spelled “Cincinnatti.” Plus, some counties were listed as cities and vice versa. Seriously, can we do better? At least look professional.

Minnesota is a sanctuary state, and counties can declare their status one way or another, but it’s not legally binding.

This sad excuse of a list leaves us with more questions than answers and is unfairly burdening many counties for no reason.