REP JIM JORDAN, REP TOM McCLINTOCK: Democrats think they can overrule laws

Students of American history may recall the nullification crisis of the 1830s, when South Carolina asserted for itself the right to declare federal law void inside its state borders. President Andrew Jackson asserted federal authority, South Carolina backed down, and the crisis passed peacefully.

The idea that a state could nullify federal law effectively ended three decades later with the bloodshed of the Civil War. It was further buried in the 1950s by Supreme Court decisions and President Dwight D. Eisenhower authorizing the National Guard to enforce federal law in Little Rock, Arkansas.

But for today’s radical Democrats, there is a new front in the nullification fight — this time around criminal aliens and so-called "sanctuary" jurisdictions.

JD VANCE, ICE FLIP SCRIPT ON SANCTUARY CITY LEADERS AS 'CHAOS' ERUPTS ACROSS MN: 'THIS IS DANGEROUS'

In sanctuary jurisdictions across the country, from California to Virginia, state and local officials are declaring themselves immune from federal immigration laws. These cities and states, all run by Democrats, each have policies or ordinances that obstruct federal immigration enforcement within their borders.

These sanctuary jurisdictions prohibit their law-enforcement agencies from working or even communicating with federal immigration officials. Some, like Washington and Colorado, prohibit local jails from delaying the release of criminal aliens so that federal authorities may safely take them into custody. Officials in Minnesota want to go even further, seeking to place restrictions on where and how federal authorities may enforce immigration law in the state.

By providing safe haven for illegal aliens — including violent criminals, child abusers, and drug traffickers — and impeding federal authorities from safely enforcing immigration statutes, sanctuary jurisdictions essentially declare federal immigration law to be void within their borders.

The debate over sanctuary jurisdictions isn’t merely some abstract legal disagreement — although the Constitution is crystal clear that federal law is the supreme law of the land, and Democrats’ appeals to states’ rights and an obscure legal concept known as the anti-commandeering doctrine fall short.

At least one-third of Americans live in localities that refuse to enforce federal immigration law. For these American citizens, radical Democrats’ sanctuary policies can be life and death.

Look no further than Fairfax County, Virginia. The far-left prosecutor there, Steve Descano, ran for office promising to make charging decisions that would "avoid immigration consequences." In December 2025, Descano’s office dropped assault charges against an alleged MS-13 gang member and released him onto the street, despite a request from federal immigration authorities to take the illegal alien into custody. Just one day after his release, the gang member allegedly committed a murder. If Fairfax County was not a sanctuary jurisdiction — if Descano and local officials allowed immigration authorities to enforce federal law—this killing could have been avoided.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE FOX NEWS OPINION

Sanctuary jurisdictions put law-enforcement officers in danger too. In Denver, for example, local authorities released an illegal alien and suspected Tren de Aragua gang member rather than allow federal immigration officials to take him into custody in a secure jail facility. When immigration officials sought to arrest the gang member on the street, he tried to flee and assaulted an officer. This attack on law enforcement could have been avoided.

Sanctuary policies act as a pull factor for illegal immigration, incentivizing foreign nationals to enter the country. As we saw during the Biden Administration, a record number of illegal aliens surged across the border, knowing if they could get to a sanctuary jurisdiction they would be here to stay. An untold number of illegal aliens — including criminals and terrorists — entered the United States in those four years.

The modern Democrat Party has become the party of open borders and unlimited illegal immigration. It is a party that demonizes federal law-enforcement officers and defunds vital immigration law-enforcement operations. It is the party, quite simply, that prioritizes the protection of criminal aliens over the safety of American citizens.

The nullification of federal law died with the secessionists and segregationists decades ago. But today’s radical Democrats are reviving it to protect criminal aliens from federal immigration enforcement. That’s wrong and just plain dangerous. The sooner Democrats respect federal immigration law, the better for the public safety of all Americans.

Republican Tom McClintock represents California's 5th congressional district.