A look at how the Local Solutions Support Center has tracked abusive preemption bills – in 25 states – that attack local authority on immigration policies in the 2025 legislative session.

Rick Su, Professor of Law at the University of North Carolina School of Law, has written a new white paper for LSSC that charts the growth and evolution of immigration-related preemption measures in recent years.

Increasingly, some state lawmakers have enacted preemption laws that make it difficult for cities to offer immigrants sanctuary status.

There is now an active anti-sanctuary movement aimed at eliminating the discretion that local communities have traditionally exercised over their involvement in the federal immigration enforcement efforts.