Republicans ask mayors to defend their immigration policies in sanctuary cities

House Republicans are launching an assault on sanctuary city policies after summoning mayors from four major US cities to the Capitol on Wednesday to defend their approach to immigration enforcement.

Before a packed room on Capitol Hill, the House oversight committee, led by its Republican chair, James Comer of Kentucky, sought to portray sanctuary cities – a city that touts municipal laws that protect undocumented migrants – as havens for criminal activity and foreign gangs.

Mayors Eric Adams of New York, Brandon Johnson of Chicago, Michelle Wu of Boston, and Mike Johnston of Denver will be at the center of the national debate about local governance, immigration enforcement and the balance between federal mandates and municipal discretion.

In opening statements, each mayor offered a defense of their sanctuary policies. Adams emphasized that such classifications do not shield criminals, but instead ensure immigrant communities can trust local authorities. Johnson argued that welcoming city ordinances do not impede criminal investigations, while Johnston framed the issue through a moral lens of humanitarian responsibility.

Wu, who brought her one-month old infant, said it was the Trump administration’s over-the-top tactics that jeopardized safety for Americans – and that the border czar, Tom Homan, should be the one that should face Congress.

“This federal administration is making hard-working, tax-paying, God-fearing residents afraid to live their lives,” Wu said. “A city that’s scared is not a city that’s safe, a land ruled by fear is not the land of the free.”

Gerry Connolly, the Democratic ranking member from Virginia, pushed back against Republican accusations, characterizing the hearing as an assault on local sovereignty. He highlighted that the cities’ policies remain fully compliant with federal law, and criticized what he termed a “selective application of the law”.

The hearing arrived amid heightened national tensions around immigration, with Trump and Republican rhetoric focusing on linking immigrant populations to crime – a narrative sharply contested by the Democratic mayors and civil liberties advocates.

Comer suggested that sanctuary policies “create sanctuary for criminals” and directly endanger public safety. He called for potentially withholding federal funding from cities that limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities and pressed each Mayor on whether they will turn over undocumented migrants to Ice.

“The point that we’ve got to iron out today is that we have to have cooperation with federal law to turn over those illegal criminals to Ice and we’ve heard reports and many of you have said publicly that you are going to obstruct that,” Comer said. “That is against the law. And we’re going to hear more about that today.”

The hearing comes as Adams faces a potential congressional investigation into the justice department’s efforts to dismiss corruption charges against him.

The Democratic representatives Jamie Raskin and Jasmine Crockett – who is a member of the House oversight committee – have accused the department of attempting an improper quid pro quo, alleging that federal prosecutors have looked to drop corruption charges in exchange for Adams’s cooperation with the Trump administration’s immigration policies.