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The cities of Mountain View and Menlo Park, as well as San Mateo and Santa Clara counties, have been sent notice they are out of compliance with federal immigration statutes as part of an executive order President Donald Trump signed on April 28, 2025.
The “Sanctuary Jurisdiction List” which was published May 29, identifies jurisdictions that are “deliberately and shamefully obstructing the enforcement of federal immigration laws endangering American communities,” according to a press release by the Department of Homeland Security.
“These sanctuary city politicians are endangering Americans and our law enforcement in order to protect violent criminal illegal aliens,” said DHS Secretary Kristi Noem in a press release. “We are exposing these sanctuary politicians who harbor criminal illegal aliens and defy federal law… Sanctuary politicians are on notice: comply with federal law.”
“The City of Mountain View is committed to being a ‘Community for All’ and supports a safe community for all who live in Mountain View. We are aware that the City of Mountain View has been placed on the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s list of ‘sanctuary jurisdictions defying federal immigration law,'” Mountain View said in a statement to this news organization.
Mountain View said that it does not ask the immigration status of any victims, witnesses or individuals who contact MVPD for help.
“The city is trying to learn what this designation may mean for the city including any financial impacts from the federal government,” the statement added.
“Sanctuary cities” is a term referring to cities that have limited or refused to cooperate with federal immigration officials.
Officials with the Menlo Park police department, and the sheriffs of San Mateo and Santa Clara counties, were not immediately available to comment.
Notably missing from the list: the city of Palo Alto, which joined a lawsuit on May 26 that argues an executive order issued in January to withhold funds from jurisdictions that adopted sanctuary ordinances violates the Tenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. On April 24, U.S. District Court Judge William Orrick issued a preliminary injunction barring the order from going into effect.
The sanctuary jurisdiction list includes 48 of California’s 58 counties and jurisdictions in 35 states in addition to Washington D.C.
Even if local cities wanted to work with federal authorities, the California Values Act prevents local jurisdictions from using their resources to investigate or arrest individuals for immigration enforcement purposes. Jurisdictions may still cooperate with deportation proceedings involving serious offenses.
Most sanctuary city policies involve “civil detainer requests,” which are requests Immigration and Customs Enforcement sends to law enforcement agencies asking them to hold individuals beyond their release date when ICE has reason to believe that an individual is subject to removal from the United States. These requests are nonbinding and not issued by a judge.
Menlo Park adopted an ordinance during Trump’s first term barring its police department from complying with those requests.
ICE argues that those requests give it time to assume custody of an individual who already has been convicted of a crime and should be removed from the United States By holding the individual, ICE believes it avoids “at-large” arrests, when ICE officials arrest an individual in the community, which it says can be dangerous for the individual, members of the public and law enforcement.
Some jurisdictions take it a step further and refuse to tell ICE if it is releasing an immigrant who can be removed, even if the individual has been convicted of a violent offense. Regardless of local statute, jurisdictions cannot legally obstruct federal law enforcement officials.
Amid immigration crackdown, Mountain View discovers unauthorized access to license plate dataJanuary 30, 2026 2:14 pm
This clearly violates the anti-commandeering doctrine. Just like the feds can’t force red state cops to enforce federal gun laws (Printz v. United States), the feds can’t force blue state cops to enforce federal immigration law.
I hear you. But they aren’t forcing them. They are simply saying sorry you don’t get out money. Mountain View always has a choice. They can tax their residents more to pay for things the feds pay for today.
I don’t know how this could even work regarding cities mentioned. They don’t have jails. They turn the suspects over to county jails. Any releasing is done by the county, not the city. Generally the way it works in California…. Some police departments have what are called holding cells, but not even all have these. They are designed to only house detainees temporarily, and the goal is to not even have them stay overnight. How could Menlo Park or Mountain View keep someone there when they have no nighttime services ?
The reporter did a reasonably good job on this article. Explained both side of the story, and had a decent amount of facts. Under the prior owner of the Voice, the article would have biased, with less facts.
I wouldnt do anything thats not in my job description or not absolutely required unless the compensation is 100% worth the trouble, so I totally understand these cities/counties lol.