[JURIST] The Mississippi Senate [official website] on Thursday approved a bill forbidding public universities and local governments to prohibit employees from disclosing any person’s immigration status to a federal official. Senate Bill 2710 [bill, PDF] also prohibits local government and universities from implementing a policy that “grants to any person the right to lawful presence or status within the state, a county or municipality, or the campus of a university, college, community college or junior college in violation of federal law.” The bill is aimed [Associated Press report] at Jackson, which has a policy prohibiting routine questioning by police officers into a person’s immigration status.

Sanctuary cities have become a very polarized topic in the US, with cities and the federal government sometimes taking different positions. Hugh Spitzer of the University of Washington School of Law spoke on the effect [JURIST op-ed] the Supreme Court might have when it comes to deciding the power divide on the issue. In January the Attorney General for the State of New York proposed, what he believed to be, model language [JURIST report] for cities to use in regards to sanctuary cities. In February the city of San Francisco filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over an executive order that would cut federal funding [JURIST report] from sanctuary cities. San Francisco’s police chief was sued, in January, by an undocumented El Salvadorian over the city’s own sanctuary city [JURIST report] protection laws. On Thursday the Texas Senate approved a bill [JURIST report] targeting sanctuary cities.