Democrat Mayor Proposes Removing Sanctuary City Protections

Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser has quietly proposed to remove sanctuary city protections in the nation’s capital.

The provision is part of Bowser’s 2026 budget proposal.

Removing D.C.’s sanctuary city protections would allow local police to cooperate with ICE to detain undocumented immigrants.

Interesting development: D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser seeks to repeal the D.C. sanctuary city law & allow local police to cooperate with ICE. Even progressive leaders are starting to recognize the need for effective immigration enforcement and the rule of law. https://t.co/Nt7jIdlvYK

— RestoreTrustPAC (@RestoreTrustPAC) May 28, 2025

Per Axios:

The D.C. Council has final say over what makes it into the budget, and some progressive members may thwart Bowser’s push.

White House officials are pressuring ICE to dial up deportations, Axios’ Brittany Gibson and Stef W. Kight report:

In a tense meeting last week, top Trump aide Stephen Miller and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem demanded that immigration agents seek to arrest 3,000 people a day, according to two sources familiar with the meeting.

The new target is triple the number of daily arrests that agents were making in the early days of Trump’s term.

Federal agents arrested 189 people in D.C. earlier this month. It’s part of Trump’s multi-agency immigration crackdown in the Washington area.

ICE officers also visited several D.C. restaurants in early May demanding to see employment eligibility papers.

According to The Washington Post, Bowser’s proposed budget would make changes to healthcare programs for migrants.

“DC had to reduce our FY25 Budget by $1.13B—a crisis that was not one of our making, but one that has real impacts on our city,” Bowser said.

“We made thoughtful changes to blunt what could’ve been a catastrophic situation for city services this summer,” she added.

DC had to reduce our FY25 Budget by $1.13B—a crisis that was not one of our making, but one that has real impacts on our city.

We made thoughtful changes to blunt what could’ve been a catastrophic situation for city services this summer.

Our CR fix: https://t.co/4eOdYAWRNI pic.twitter.com/KTGDckyCX9

— Mayor Muriel Bowser (@MayorBowser) May 27, 2025

From The Washington Post:

Mayor Muriel E. Bowser’s budget proposal would make changes to health-care programs that insure undocumented immigrants and low-income adults, as city grapples with financial pressure and the impacts of President Donald Trump’s spending and tax cut bill.

Starting Aug. 1, the budget proposal calls for the city to begin phasing adults age 21 and older out of the Healthcare Alliance Program, which uses local dollars to cover 27,000 adults regardless of immigration status; and in March impose limits such as requiring people to reenroll in-person every six months. The 6,000 children in the program would be unaffected, city officials say.

The city would also save money by paying for care as participants use services, instead of per person enrolled. The changes would save the city $457 million over four years, budget documents released Tuesday show, though some advocates worry the cuts would cost thousands of residents their health care and hospitals would rack up more uncompensated care costs.

In addition, about 25,000 parents or caregivers and childless adults covered under the expansion of the Affordable Care Act who earn more than 133 percent of the federal poverty level would lose Medicaid coverage under the proposal. Instead, many of them would be eligible for a new basic plan on the exchange with similar coverage, city officials said.

The mayor’s proposal, which the D.C. Council must now consider, reflects the competing interests the Bowser (D) administration has weighed when crafting a budget that is financially responsible and anticipates federal changes without abandoning the city’s most vulnerable residents.

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