Explore Trump’s call to end ICE operations and the impact of sanctuary cities on safety.
What do Minnesota, California, Oregon, Washington, Illinois, and New York have in common? They all have mayors and governors demanding an end to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations in their jurisdictions. But what else do they have in common?
Three guesses and the first two don’t count.
All of the above and others have declared themselves « sanctuary » jurisdictions. They refuse to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement, including when illegal aliens get arrested for serious crimes. Rather than alert ICE, they release the offenders back into their communities, requiring ICE to find them in order to enforce detainers and deportation orders. These jurisdictions refuse to cooperate on those operations too, and in recent weeks have refused to even provide normal security for federal law enforcement. Local and state leaders then encourage their citizens to interfere in these operations, putting everyone at higher risk.
That is why more than two-thirds of violent encounters in ICE operations take place in just nine counties:
I am horrified. I cannot believe it.
I analyzed public databases and media reporting on violent confrontations with ICE over the past year.
Just 9 counties accounted for TWO-THIRDS of violent confrontations with ICE in America.
This is twice all violent confrontations in the… pic.twitter.com/PuQuntgtGF— Kevin Bass (@kevinnbass) January 26, 2026
This is twice all violent confrontations in the remaining 3,134 counties COMBINED. A violent confrontation in these 9 counties was 590 TIMES more likely than any of these other 3,134 counties. 590 times. I plotted these 9 counties, and I found that all 9 counties are sanctuary jurisdictions run by Democrat politicians that resist immigration law enforcement. These violent confrontations are RARE in states and cities where local officials cooperate with law enforcement.
Github with all code and data reproduce or challenge the analysishttps://t.co/Tb065XPVyL— Kevin Bass (@kevinnbass) January 26, 2026
Granted, these are among America’s most populous cities, and illegal aliens would likely congregate in larger cities regardless of sanctuary policies. However, note well that the issue of violent ICE events does not appear in other larger cities in non-sanctuary jurisdictions. Dallas doesn’t show up on the list, nor do Nashville, New Orleans, Atlanta, Miami or any Southern city, despite their closer proximity to the border.
