Minnesota and the New Nullification Crisis

The antics of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz have been much in the news of late, but the corporate media has studiously ignored the legal and historical context of his refusal to comply with federal immigration law. Minnesota is just one of 16 Democrat-controlled states that have enacted measures that violate the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause (Article VI, Clause 2), which provides that federal law takes precedence over conflicting laws passed by states. These Democrats are reenacting the nullification crisis that historians regard as a precursor to the Civil War.

These “sanctuary states” include California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington. How precisely are they violating the Supremacy Clause? Article I, Section 8, Clause 4 of the Constitution gives Congress plenary authority over immigration. Congress has passed a variety of laws designed to control which immigrants may legally enter and reside in the U.S. Yet when ICE officials try to enforce these laws, these states interfere, falsely claiming their own immigration statutes somehow take precedence.

Some of these states, including Minnesota, have simply declared themselves sanctuary jurisdictions without bothering to pass a law. The Gopher State did so based on nothing more than an advisory opinion issued by its far left attorney general Keith Ellison: “Minnesota law prohibits state and local law enforcement agencies from holding someone based on an immigration detainer if the person would otherwise be released from custody.” Thus, local authorities release illegal aliens knowing that ICE officers are on their way to arrest them. As Michael R. Davis, President of the Article III Project, writes at Fox News:

Sanctuary states and cities cripple federal law enforcement. Leftist leaders refuse to assist the federal government in enforcing immigration law, including the outrageous refusal to honor federal detainers for illegal immigrants arrested for other crimes. When state jails release illegal immigrants, officials fail to notify ICE. Agents must track fugitives on the streets instead of making safe arrests inside jails, exposing themselves and the public to unnecessary danger. Sanctuary policies shield murderers, pedophiles, drug dealers, and armed robbers from deportation.