Fresno isn’t a sanctuary city. Why is it on Trump administration’s list?
Fresno made a list of municipalities the U.S. Department of Homeland Security says are defying federal immigration laws — despite its leaders never calling it a sanctuary city for the undocumented.
Mayor Jerry Dyer said Friday his office was looking into how Fresno made the list.
“It’s unclear to me how the city of Fresno ended up on a Department of Homeland Security list of jurisdictions that allegedly have obstructed federal immigration enforcement. Fresno is not, by any definition, a sanctuary city,” he said in a statement. “We are awaiting clarification from DHS to better understand the basis for this designation and will determine our next steps once we have more information.”
Fresno made the list with other San Joaquin Valley cities liked Madera, Huron and Stockton. Madera deemed itself a “welcoming city” in March in an effort to avoid potential federal repercussions.
Huron and Stockton have called themselves sanctuary cities, but Fresno has not declared itself any of those designations.
The list had at least a few glaring inconsistencies on Friday as Huntington Beach made the list despite naming itself in January a “non-sanctuary city,” the opposite of the sanctuary cities apparently in President Donald Trump’s cross hairs.
The city of Santa Ana, which did adopt the sanctuary city moniker, was not on the list.
The Department of Homeland security said the cities and counties on the list could also face consequences.
“Each jurisdiction listed will receive formal notification of its non-compliance with federal statutes,” the list said. “DHS demands that these jurisdictions immediately review and revise their policies to align with federal immigration laws and renew their obligation to protect American citizens, not dangerous illegal aliens.”
Earlier this month, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy warned Fresno in a letter it could lose out on federal funding if leaders did not drop DEI language and cooperate with immigration enforcement.
Councilmember Miguel Arias said the city of Fresno has the law on its side and relies on little federal funding.
“I think this is politics at its worst, and the city is not going to back away,” he said.
Arias was standing outside City Hall on Friday as the city kicked off a new program to provide mobile food vendors — some of whom are undocumented — with identification badges.
“We’ll keep on doing what we do every day, which is be a welcoming city to all immigrants and provide undocumented and documented residents the same level of support irrespective of their legal status or their citizenship or their origin of citizenship,” he said.
This story was originally published May 30, 2025 at 10:40 AM.
