Violating Sanctuary City Ban Could Cost Helena Big Bucks

It should be a fairly open and shut case as the City of Helena appears to be in flagrant violation of a ban on sanctuary cities in Montana. Tens of thousands in fines are already racking up, and the city could lose state funds from the coal board and other funding sources.

In case you missed the big press conference last week with Gov. Greg Gianforte (R-MT) and AG Austin Knudsen (R-MT) announcing an investigation, the full video is below. I also had the opportunity to catch up with AG Knudsen as he took your phone calls on our statewide radio talk show- Montana Talks with Aaron Flint.

AG Knudsen: "The legislature was very clear here. This is a relatively new law- was passed in 2021 just a couple of years ago, but the Montana legislature was very clear, we don't want sanctuary cities in Montana. Here's what happens if a city or town in Montana tries to adopt these policies, tries to obstruct federal law enforcement doing their constitutional job. We're not going to stand for it in Montana. That was the directive from the legislature. So city councils like Helena that decide they want to thumb their nose at this. We have some teeth here to hold them to account. You don't like it. Go change the law."

Knudsen says the city also risks losing commerce funds and coal board funds, in addition to the $10,000 fine for every 5 days the policy is in place.

Are other cities like also in potential violation of the sanctuary city ban?

AG Knudsen says while other localities don't appear to be in outright violation of the sanctuary city ban- they're still doing some "knuckleheaded" things.

One example he gave- Democrat Gallatin County Attorney Audrey Cromwell, who was recently in Minnesota for a "day of solidarity" with anti ICE protesters and local officials refusing to work with federal law enforcement.

AG Knudsen: "Talk about somebody who's been a disappointment to the folks of Gallatin County. And I don't say that lightly. I know County Attorney Cromwell. I've known her for years, and I had high hopes, but she seems to be just falling into this partisan ego trip that I think the local Democrat Party is putting her on. I'll just be real blunt with your listeners. This is the county attorney who had everyone quit her office. She continues to bleed attorneys because they don't want to work for her. A lot of them have come work for me in my Prosecution Services Bureau, which is a plus for the state. But while she's over in Minneapolis, running around, protesting with the Montana Democrat party and a bunch of legislators, she's at the same time calling my office asking my prosecutors- which there's not a lot of them, Aaron, I don't have a huge staff, and they're very, very busy running around the state. She's functionally asked my prosecutors to handle the majority of her felony caseload because she's not able to keep lawyers employed there. Yet she's got time to go over to Minneapolis and protest. (Flint interjects-'That's crazy.') Not a great look."