A new bill aimed at holding sanctuary cities “accountable” has been introduced by Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-WY), with Breitbart News obtaining exclusive access to the proposed legislation as well as the congresswoman’s letter to President Donald Trump pledging to help him stop Democrat-controlled jurisdictions from harboring illegal migrants.
The “No Student Visas for Sanctuary Cities Act,” introduced Wednesday, would “hold sanctuary cities accountable for their violation of federal law and for their aiding of illegal aliens” by amending the Immigration and Nationality Act to prohibit student visas being granted for institutions in such jurisdictions, Hageman’s office told Breitbart News.
05.07.25 Hageman Sanctuary City Letter by Breitbart News on Scribd
“Leftist proponents of open borders, or no borders at all, have infiltrated many of our states, cities, and counties and caused the so-called leaders within them to completely undermine the rule of law,” the congresswoman explained. “Instead of protecting their citizens, sanctuary city officials have chosen those here unlawfully — many of them members of international cartels and other transnational criminal organizations –- over their constituents.”
Hageman, who has represented Wyoming’s at-large congressional district after beating former Rep. Liz Cheney in the 2022 Republican primary, went on to explain that “Prohibiting student visas is an accountability measure to pressure obstructors of justice to take action in complying with the rules set forth by Congressional representatives of the American people.”
Co-sponsors of the bill include Reps. Brandon Gill (R-TX), Paul Gosar (R-AZ), and Troy Nehls (R-TX).
Text of the bill obtained by Breitbart News defines sanctuary jurisdictions as those that are “refusing to or prohibiting agencies from complying with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainers,” “imposing unreasonable conditions” on ICE detainer compliance, “denying” ICE access to interview incarcerated aliens, or “otherwise impeding communication or information exchanges between the jurisdiction’s personnel” and federal immigration officials.
In a letter sent to Trump as she introduced the bill, Hageman thanked him for his “bold leadership” in his crusade to enforce immigration laws, and went on to “encourage further action against those sanctuary jurisdictions that stand in the way of the American people’s agenda and security, which you are seeking to implement and protect.”
Praising Trump’s April 28 executive order, Protecting American Communities from Criminal Aliens, Hageman said she wrote to the president to “highlight” her bill as a way to help force “compliance” with immigration enforcement officials:
There are at least thirteen states and countless other cities and counties that operate as so-called “sanctuary jurisdictions.” As you know, these sanctuary jurisdictions shield criminal aliens from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) through various laws, ordinances, regulations, and other practices that prohibit their government employees from cooperating with federal law enforcement. These policies reject compliance with ICE detainers, impose unreasonable conditions on detainer acceptance, deny ICE’s ability to interview incarcerated aliens, and impose other constraints on federal officers.
Congress and the executive branch have proposed numerous policies to reduce the incentive for sanctuary jurisdictions to keep these laws and policies in place. Your April 28, 2025, executive order, Protecting American Communities from Criminal Aliens, seeks to identify and impose consequences on sanctuary jurisdictions.’ Section 3 of the order further directs the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security to “pursue all necessary legal remedies and enforcement measures to end these violations and bring such jurisdictions into compliance with the laws of the United States.”
As your administration considers further action to carry out your executive order, I am writing to highlight my recently introduced bill, the No Student Visas for Sanctuary Cities Act, which blocks the granting of student visas for educational institutions located in sanctuary jurisdictions. Such a policy could be achieved in the short term through executive action while Congress considers this idea, and it would further implement your stated intent to levy consequences for violating federal immigration law.
In a February interview with Breitbart News, Hageman slammed the government for working for an elite cabal of people” instead of the average American, and called Cheney a “globalist.”
HAGEMA_027_xml by Breitbart News on Scribd
Olivia Rondeau is a politics reporter for Breitbart News based in Washington, DC. Find her on X/Twitter and Instagram.
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