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FEAR OVER FACTS


In June 2025, Rep. Nick Langworthy (NY-23) introduced the Stop Dangerous Sanctuary Cities Act with dramatic fanfare, claiming it would protect Americans from what he called "criminal illegal immigrants and left-wing extremists."


The bill would block federal funding for sanctuary jurisdictions that limit cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.


Langworthy justified his legislation by pointing to events in Los Angeles, warning that "the violence we are seeing happen in LA right now is a cautionary tale for New York." But Langworthy's alarmist rhetoric rests on a foundation of lies—lies about immigrants, lies about violence, and lies about what's actually happening in Western New York.


The Immigrant Threat Narrative: Old Bigotry, All Trumped Up


Langworthy is trafficking in what scholars call the "immigrant threat narrative"—a collection of fear-mongering ideas as old as bigotry itself. This narrative paints immigrants as violent criminals, job stealers, and carriers of disease. It's the same playbook Donald Trump used in 2015 when he launched his presidential campaign by declaring that Mexico wasn't sending its best people, but rather criminals, drug dealers, and rapists.


This rhetoric isn't new, and it also isn't true.


The Facts


The Migration Policy Institute has thoroughly documented that immigrants commit crimes at lower rates than the U.S.-born population, directly contradicting claims that immigration drives criminal activity. In fact, their research demonstrates that immigration can actually lower criminal activity, especially violent crime, in places with inclusive policies where immigrant populations are well established.


Far from taking jobs, immigrants often fill positions that U.S. citizens are unwilling to take and start new businesses at higher rates than the general population. They contribute to our economy and strengthen our communities.


The Reality in Western New York


What does Langworthy's "dangerous" immigration crisis actually look like in our region? According to reporting from the Investigative Post, it looks like this: police stop or detain a migrant for a low-level offense like a traffic violation or shoplifting. Claiming they need a translator or to verify identity, police call Border Patrol agents. Federal agents then take custody of the migrant, often sending them to the ICE detention center in Batavia.

A shoplifting charge that would typically result in a ticket to appear before a town judge now leads to deportation.


Between January and mid-October 2025, ICE detained 813 immigrants in the eight counties of Western New York. None of them had a criminal history. Immigration issues are civil offenses, not criminal ones. In many cases, these are people who are legally present in this country, following the rules as they seek asylum or residency.

This is hardly the pearl-clutchingly violent scenario Langworthy is selling.


Local police departments in Cheektowaga, Lewiston, North Tonawanda, and Amherst have all cooperated with ICE in these detentions and deportations, treating our immigrant neighbors as threats rather than as people entitled to due process—a right guaranteed to all people in this nation of immigrants. Buffalo Mayor-Elect Sean Ryan criticized federal immigration enforcement activities in Buffalo, saying local cooperation with ICE was ‘out of control’ when agents targeted a legally present immigrant with no criminal history.


The Myth of Violent Protests


Langworthy pointed to violence in Los Angeles, Chicago, Portland, DC, and Charleston to justify his crackdown on sanctuary cities. But this "violence" was largely a figment of right-wing imagination, overblown and distorted in the telling.


What actually happened? Peaceful and sometimes heated protests erupted across the country in response to Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids. Protesters expressed their concern about ICE's constitutional violations through song, dance, chanting, and marching. In Portland, the now-famous Frog Brigade—a group of people in inflatable frog costumes standing across from armed federal agents—became a symbol of creative, nonviolent resistance.


In Buffalo this October, a whole menagerie of inflatable characters joined Western New Yorkers in Niagara Square to stand and dance in opposition to these immigration policies. The image of dancing inflatable frogs and their friends hardly supports Langworthy and Trump's characterization of violent extremists.


A Performative Bill, Real Harm


Langworthy's Stop Dangerous Sanctuary Cities Act was always more about political theater than policy. On the day he introduced it—June 10, 2025—it was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and additionally to the Committees on Transportation and Infrastructure and Financial Services. There it sits, its primary purpose already fulfilled: generating headlines and signaling Langworthy's alignment with the Trump administration's immigration agenda.


Meanwhile, the real-world consequences of the policies Langworthy champions continue to tear families apart and violate constitutional protections.

Even the Supreme Court has pushed back on the most extreme overreach. On December 23, 2025, the Court refused to let President Trump send National Guard troops to Chicago, noting that "at this preliminary stage, the Government has failed to identify a source of authority that would allow the military to execute the laws in Illinois."


Standing Firmly with Lies


Rep. Nick Langworthy has stood firmly with the Trump administration as it has perpetuated lies about our immigrant neighbors and trampled on the due process rights to which all immigrants are entitled. He continues to tell a story of an immigration crisis built on misinformation, ignoring the facts about crime rates, the reality of who is being detained in our region, and the nature of the protests he characterizes as violent.


Langworthy calls New York's sanctuary policies "dangerous." But the real danger lies in politicians who build their careers on fear, division, and demonstrable falsehoods—politicians who value political performance over the constitutional rights and human dignity of the people they claim to serve.


Sources:


Langworthy, Rep. Nick. “Congressman Nick Langworthy Introduces Stop Dangerous Sanctuary Cities Act of 2025; Stands with ICE and Condemns Violent Political Protests.” June 10, 2025. https://langworthy.house.gov/media/press-releases/congressman-nick-langworthy-introduces-stop-dangerous-sanctuary-cities-act



Migration Policy Institute, Metropolitan Group, the RAND Corporation and the National Immigration Forum. “How We Talk about Migration: The Link between Migration Narratives, Policy and Power.”

“Here’s Donald Trump’s Presidential Announcement Speech.” June 16, 2015. TIME Magazine. https://time.com/3923128/donald-trump-announcement-speech/


Chung, Andrew and Jan Wolfe. “US Supreme Court rejects Trump's military deployment in Chicago area, for now.” Reuters, December 24, 2025. https://www.reuters.com/world/us-supreme-court-rejects-trumps-military-deployment-chicago-area-now-2025-12-23/


 
 
 

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