Rep. Andy Harris, chair of the House Freedom Caucus, declared that sanctuary states and cities constitute “rogue jurisdictions” ineligible for federal grants. The remarks follow the arrest in Harford County, Maryland, of a 32-year-old Salvadoran national charged with three counts of second-degree rape. Court records indicate the suspect allegedly began sexually abusing an underage girl during her middle school years.
Harris noted that the man received a final deportation order from an immigration judge in 2019 but remained in the United States throughout the Biden administration. “Maryland is a sanctuary jurisdiction,” Harris stated. “The United States under [former President] Joe Biden was a sanctuary jurisdiction. I just don’t understand it at all.”
The representative emphasized that jurisdictions refusing to cooperate with federal immigration authorities must lose access to Department of Justice funding and other federal grants. “They all want federal grants,” he said. “Yet they won’t participate with federal immigration authorities even to deport people like this man who committed such a horrendous crime against a child.”
Harris also urged Senate Republicans to advance election-integrity measures in the 2026 midterm elections and revive the traditional “talking filibuster” requirement for legislation. On foreign policy, he expressed optimism about ongoing negotiations with Iran following U.S. military action targeting Iranian nuclear and missile programs, stating the United States has “decimated the Iranians’ nuclear capability.” Harris added that the next two to four months of talks are critical for ensuring peace and noted that reopening the Strait of Hormuz would lower energy prices and improve economic conditions for Americans.
