Immigration Federalism: Sanctuaries and State Citizenship

This paper outlines a procedural exploration and defense of sanctuary city policy and inclusively minded policies directed towards undocumented immigrants. Using state rights arguments enshrined by the Tenth Amendment and Supreme Court precedent, I demonstrate the constitutionality of sanctuary cities. While restrictionist policies such as Arizona’s Senate Bill 1070 have been federally preempted, integrationist policies such as San Francisco’s sanctuary ordinances have been untouched by federal preemption and/or judicial oversight. I explore the preemption doctrine and explain why these two seemingly contradictory results are consistent with American constitutional law and practice