Montana will ban sanctuary cities under bill expected to pass Legislature

The state Senate on Monday endorsed a bill to ban sanctuary cities in Montana, a law-and-order notice from conservative lawmakers which Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte is expected to sign once it reaches his desk.

"What it gets down to is legal versus illegal," Sen. Keith Regier, R-Kalispell, told the Senate floor Monday before the vote. "If you're here legally, fine. If you're here illegally, you should be worried."

House Bill 200, sponsored by Rep. Kenneth Holmlund, R-Miles City, passed the House last month on a nearly-party line vote. The bill passed the upper chamber Monday with support from the GOP majority, with one Republican senator breaking with Democrats on the 30-20 vote.

Democrats pushed back against the proposal during the Senate debate, calling the bill unnecessary and divergent from economic priorities.

"We live in a state that borders Canada," Sen. Ellie Boldman, D-Missoula, said in opposition. "I'm assuming this bill is not about the caravans of Canadians coming over the border. … This is not about political differences. It does nothing to make Montana better."

Some Montana tribal officials, religious leaders and others decried the bill as it passed through committees. Montana has no sanctuary cities, Holmlund said in committee hearings, but he considers the measure proactive. The legislation would require the Montana Attorney General's Office to investigate and enforce compliance with the ban if complaints are made against a local government. The bill also orders local government agencies to comply with federal immigration detainers, a point of contention this session after the Montana Supreme Court ruled in 2020 that local and state law enforcement had no statutory authority to enforce such federal arrests.

Sen. Brad Molnar, R-Laurel, was the lone Republican to vote against the measure in the Senate. His reasoning leaned toward the Supreme Court's ruling, saying that local officials weren't elected or appointed to take on federal matters. Additionally, Molnar took issue with the cities — by extension, taxpayers — being saddled with a fine if local officials are found in violation of the ban.

The bill has passed both chambers before, but during former Democrat Steve Bullock's term it was one of several GOP bills that failed to progress past his veto pen. Gianforte, however, has supported ratcheting up immigration enforcement, including another bill that specifically addresses the federal detainer authority of local law enforcement in the state. Last week, Montana joined Arizona in suing the U.S. Department of Homeland Security over the Biden administration's 100-day moratorium on deportations. That shift in policy, the lawsuit states, violates an agreement Gianforte and Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen both signed with a DHS official before Biden took office to give the states six months notice before relaxing any immigration policy.

During his State of the State speech in January, Gianforte told lawmakers he'd sign the legislation.

HB 200 will get a third reading in the Senate to finalize the vote before it is sent to Gianforte to be signed into law.