March 12, 2026 3:09PM # Testimony Before the Senate Budget Committee on Sanctuary Cities By [David J. Bier](https://www.cato.org/people/david-bier) --- SHARE Listen to this article Generated with [ ElevenLabs](https://elevenlabs.io/) AI technology. Loading the [Elevenlabs Text to Speech](https://elevenlabs.io/text-to-speech) AudioNative Player... *Here is my five-minute opening statement, as prepared:* Chairman Graham, Ranking Member Merkley, and distinguished members of the Committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify. For half a century, the Cato Institute’s research has shown that people—whatever their ancestry, background, or birthplace—can thrive in a free society. Immigrants come to work for us and with us to make our lives better. They work at higher rates and are nearly twice as likely to start businesses. Immigrants have reduced government deficits by [at least $14.5 trillion](https://www.cato.org/blog/cato-study-immigrants-reduced-deficits-145-trillion-1994) over the last 30 years. And yet Congress has not updated the *legal* immigration system during that entire time, so just 3 percent of all legal immigrant applicants [received approval in 2024](https://www.cato.org/briefing-paper/green-card-approval-rate-reaches-record-lows#creation-unprecedented-green-card-requests). Rather than fix this broken system, the new administration [banned](https://www.cato.org/blog/new-ban-hits-half-legal-immigrants-even-citizens-spouses-kids) half—***half***—of all the legal immigrants who had made it to the end of that process, including the spouses and children of US citizens. The fallout from this flawed system is left to our cities to manage. In many areas, one in five residents lives with someone here illegally. Mass deportation is not an option for these places. It is an attack on them. It is taking Americans—***Americans—***away from their spouses, parents, pastors, parishioners, employees, employers, customers, and friends. It’s not us Americans versus them immigrants. Cities know immigrants are part of ***us***. They also know immigrants are here to build, not destroy. A mountain, literally a mountain, of research proves that immigrants—and reasonable limits on participation with ICE—do not increase crime rates. Immigrants—even illegal immigrants—are *half* as likely to be incarcerated for crimes. According to DHS, only about 3 percent of illegal immigrants have any criminal convictions. Immigrants *reduce* crime rates, which means you’re less likely to be a crime victim. Mass deportation—not immigration—is the threat to cities. Let me be clear: When a noncitizen does *victimize* someone, they should be convicted, imprisoned, and deported. But it is DHS that rejects that formula. Just [28 percent of the people detained](https://www.ice.gov/detain/detention-management) by ICE right now were convicted of *any* crime. This is no surprise. DHS has abandoned its public safety mission. It stripped millions of *vetted* immigrants of legal status just so it could deport them. Instead of protecting us, DHS violates the Constitution. Its masked agents [invade](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/a-u-s-citizen-says-ice-forced-open-the-door-to-his-minnesota-home-and-removed-him-in-his-underwear-after-a-warrantless-search) our homes without warrants. They detain [without evidence](https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/judge-rules-immigration-agents-minnesota-ice-surge-illegally-detained-people-racial-profiling/) and [deport without due process](https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24pdf/24a931_2c83.pdf). They arrest legal immigrants for [writing opinion articles](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/17/trump-rumeysa-ozturk-tufts-detention). They intimidate, beat, and even kill Americans who protest. They lie to the courts, and then they ignore them. With all this unconstitutional mayhem, Congress should not *itself* violate the Constitution by threatening local law enforcement—not for interfering with ICE—but rather for following their own laws that they swore an oath to uphold. Under our system of federalism and the Constitution, Congress can’t force cities to do its bidding—whether on immigration, guns, or the environment. If Congress wants cities to help DHS, it’ll need those cities to trust DHS. But to get trust, you need to be trustworthy. And this DHS is not. Consider this: Before this administration, noncitizens [were more likely to report serious crimes](https://www.cato.org/blog/new-cato-paper-immigrants-cut-victimization-rates-boost-crime-reporting) to the police than US-born citizens. *Now* DHS is arresting immigrant crime victims. For example, in Iowa, a shooting victim, who helped bring to justice violent robbers, [was arrested by ICE](https://apnews.com/article/immigrants-crime-victims-ice-detention-u-visas-d616ca1c8762683639cdab1e61741f6a) before he had even healed. But since he had a pending charge for an unpaid traffic ticket, ICE considers him a criminal. This has [caused filings](https://www.cato.org/testimony/hearing-sanctuary-city-mayors) for U visas—for crime victims working with police—to drop by 63 percent. This is not making *Americans* safer. Congress must require DHS to focus on real threats, and it must empower Americans to sue federal agents for violating the Constitution. We need accountability and constitutionality to restore trust. Thank you. *You can read* [*my full written testimony here*](https://www.cato.org/testimony/testimony-sanctuary-cities-cost-undermining-law-order)*.* *My exchanges with Sens. Jeff Merkely (D‑OR), Chris Van Hollen (D‑MD), Ron Johnson (R‑WI), and John Kennedy (R‑LA)* [*can be found on Substack*](https://www.alexnowrasteh.com/p/video-of-my-contentious-testimony)*.* ##### Related Tags [Immigration](https://www.cato.org/immigration) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).