One of the first policy battles the incoming administration will face with cities and states around the country, including Philadelphia, is the extent of federal power to conscript local law enforcement to assist with enforcing the civil immigration system. Since the election, Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney has repeated his commitment to insisting on appropriate limits of federal power within the city, causing opponents to label Philadelphia a “Sanctuary City.”
The battle over states’ role in enforcing federal law is as old as the republic. Shortly after the Constitution took effect, one of the most contentious issues between the states and federal government was whether the instruments of state police power—reserved to the states by the Tenth Amendment—could be conscripted by those seeking to enforce federal law. The battles in the early 19th century over the ability of states to limit their cooperation in enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Acts. The commonwealth of Pennsylvania lost an early Supreme Court battle over its ability to bring kidnapping charges against “slave catchers” from Maryland. That case established the principle that states, given the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution, could not take measures to thwart federal laws in their territories.
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