Democratic governors defend immigration policies before Republican-led House panel

“Sanctuary polices do not protect Americans, they protect criminal illegal aliens,” Comer said.

Republican lawmakers clashed repeatedly with the Democratic governors, often recounting descriptions of violent crimes allegedly committed by immigrants in the U.S. illegally who were not previously detained by local police. The daylong hearing turned into a yelling match at multiple moments, with committee members talking over the top of each other and veering off topic in their questions.

At one point, Democratic Rep. Melanie Stansbury of New Mexico interjected to denounce the “theatrics.”

“Welcome everyone to the Oversight reality TV show,” Stansbury said. “I know Mr. Trump loves himself some good TV, and today is not disappointing.”

There's no legal definition of a sanctuary jurisdiction, but the term generally refers to governments with policies limiting cooperation with federal immigration authorities. Courts previously have upheld the legality of such laws.

But Trump's administration has sued Colorado, Illinois, New York and several cities — including Chicago and Rochester, New York — asserting their policies violate the U.S. Constitution or federal law.

Illinois, Minnesota and New York also were among 14 states and hundreds of cities and counties recently listed by the Department of Homeland Security as "sanctuary jurisdictions defying federal immigration law." The list later was removed from the department's website after criticism that it errantly included some local governments that support Trump's immigration policies.

As Trump steps up immigration enforcement, some Democratic-led states have intensified their resistance by strengthening state laws restricting cooperation with immigration agents. Following clashes between crowds of protesters and immigration agents in Los Angeles, Trump deployed the National Guard to protect federal buildings and agents, and California Gov. Gavin Newsom accused Trump of declaring "a war" on the underpinnings of American democracy.

“As we speak, an American city has been militarized over the objections of their governor,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said. “At the outset, I just want to say that this is a flagrant abuse of power.”

Some of the most fiery exchanges involved Hochul and Republicans from her home state. Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik, who has been named as a potential 2026 gubernatorial candidate in New York, described instances in which she said people were raped, molested and burned alive by immigrants who had entered or remained in the U.S. illegally.

“You are not advocating on behalf of these victims, you are shielding illegals,” Stefanik said to Hochul while interrupting the governor's attempted responses.

Hochul said the crimes were “horrific” and “heartbreaking” and insisted “we cooperate with ICE; we cooperate with law enforcement” in criminal cases.

Republican Rep. Nick Langworthy of New York later implied that Hochul's policies were partly to blame for the death of University of Georgia student Laken Riley, who was killed last year by a Venezuelan man who had entered the U.S. illegally. According to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the man had been arrested by New York police in 2023 but was released before ICE could ask New York officials to hold him.

Pressed further by other Republican questioners, Hochul expressed sympathy for Riley's family but said “this has nothing to do with our civil enforcement of the laws.”

Gubernatorial orders prohibit New York officials from inquiring about or disclosing a person’s immigration status to federal authorities, unless required by law.

Hochul said law enforcement officers still can cooperate with federal immigration authorities when people are convicted of or under investigation for crimes. Since she took office in 2021, Hochul said the state has initiated the transfer of more than 1,300 incarcerated noncitizens to ICE at the completion of their state sentences.

“What we don’t do is civil immigration enforcement — that’s the federal government’s job,” Hochul said.

The House Oversight Committee has long been a partisan battleground, and in recent months it has turned its focus to immigration policy. Thursday's hearing follows a similar one in March in which the Republican-led committee questioned the Democratic mayors of Chicago, Boston, Denver and New York about sanctuary policies.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the first to testify, rejected the assertion that Minnesota is a sanctuary state. It has no statewide law protecting immigrants in the U.S. illegally from deportation, though Minneapolis and St. Paul both restrict the extent to which police and city employees can cooperate with immigration enforcement.

“Enforcing immigration law is not the role of local and state governments,” said Walz, who sent out a political fundraising email touting his congressional testimony.

Some laws signed by Walz have secured benefits for people regardless of immigration status. But at least one of those is getting rolled back. The Minnesota Legislature, meeting in a special session, passed legislation Monday to repeal a 2023 law that allowed adults in the U.S. illegally to be covered under a state-run health care program for the working poor. Walz insisted on maintaining eligibility for children who aren't in the country legally.

Heavily Democratic Chicago has been a sanctuary city for decades. In 2017, then-Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner, a Republican, signed legislation creating statewide protections for immigrants. The Illinois Trust Act prohibits police from searching, arresting or detaining people solely because of their immigration status. But it allows local authorities to hold people for federal immigration authorities if there's a valid criminal warrant.

Gov. JB Pritzker, who succeeded Rauner in 2019, said violent criminals “have no place on our streets, and if they are undocumented, I want them out of Illinois and out of our country.”

“Illinois follows the law. But let me be clear, we expect the federal government to follow the law too,” added Pritzker, who has been among Trump’s most outspoken opponents and is considered a potential 2028 presidential candidate. “We will not participate in abuses of power. We will not violate court orders.”

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Lieb reported from Jefferson City, Mo. Also contributing were Associated Press writers Anthony Izaguirre in Albany, N.Y.; Steve Karnowski in Minneapolis; and Sophia Tareen in Chicago.

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