Last month, President Donald Trump signed four major executive orders related to the southern border.
The first proclaimed an invasion at the border, and blocks migrants from entering the U.S.
The second, “Securing Our Borders,” imposes more restrictions on entry and limits asylum and humanitarian protections.
The third declared a national border emergency, citing crossings by “cartels, criminal gangs, known terrorists, human traffickers, smugglers, unvetted military-age males,” and the fourth paves way for the military to prioritize the border.
These directives also remove protections from migrant apprehensions in public spaces like schools, hospitals and churches.
States in the West, especially those that share a border with Mexico, are grappling with these changes to immigration law.
Last month, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox in a letter sent to the Trump administration asked for three things: new ICE leadership in Utah, fewer obstacles to house ICE detainees in Utah and more funding to remove migrants who should be deported from Utah, according to the Deseret News’ report.
“If you commit crimes, I don’t care if they’re violent or nonviolent, yes, you should not be here,” Cox said at a press conference in December. “You shouldn’t have been here in the first place, but you definitely should not be here.”
Idaho Gov. Brad Little, a Republican, agrees with Cox.
But other states in the West aren’t all the way aligned with the Trump White House’s immigration policies, and some are simply refusing to comply.
The Trump Justice Department is ordering criminal investigations into state and local officials who are willfully obstructing these orders, according to an internal memo sent by Emil Bove, Trump’s criminal defense lawyer, and first reported by Bloomberg Law. But the memo doesn’t clarify what these officials would be prosecuted for.
Here’s what state lawmakers in four western states say they will do on immigration.
California
The bluest state in the West has been readying for this fight for months. On Tuesday, state lawmakers approved a bill that would allocate $50 million to legally challenge Trump’s immigration policies and set up legal aid for migrants.
Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas said the Golden State is home to 1.8 million undocumented migrants, who pay $8.5 billion in state and local taxes each year and are productive members of their communities.
But California’s Republican lawmakers argued the move is ill-timed. “You are putting us on a collision course with the national administration,” said Assembly member Carl DeMaio, a first-term Republican representing San Diego, during floor debate, as Politico reported. “You are doubling down on policies that hurt Californians.”
The bill comes out of a special session, called by Gov. Gavin Newsom in November.
“The freedoms we hold dear in California are under attack — and we won’t sit idle. California has faced this challenge before, and we know how to respond,” the California governor said at the time. “We are prepared, and we will do everything necessary to ensure Californians have the support and resources they need to thrive.”
In response to the state-level bill, Trump deputy press secretary Harrison Field said, “The California Legislature and its incompetent governor need to stop dreaming and wake up to the reality of the invasion facing our nation and their state due to illegal immigration,” according to Newsweek.
Arizona
In the purple state of Arizona, Gov. Katie Hobbs is willing to comply ... halfway. She said she will not use state resources to help deportation efforts.
“We’re not going to use state resources to go into communities and round up people that aren’t causing harm,” Hobbs, a Democrat, told reporters last month, as KTAR News reported.
“Task Force SAFE is intercepting drugs at our ports of entry,” the governor said, referring to the program where the states’ guardsmen aid border patrol agents. “Those are the kind of efforts we should be spending our limited resources on, and I want to protect Arizonans and make sure that they’re not subject to raids in churches and hospitals and schools.”
But the Republican-controlled state legislature has other plans. Arizona state Rep. Teresa Martinez introduced a bill that would direct the governor and attorney to comply with the federal government’s immigration actions.
“Nobody’s talking about abuela. Nobody’s talking about sending grandma off,” Martinez said, as ABC News' Arizona affiliate reported. “We’re talking about people who have been convicted, with arrest warrants. They have arrest warrants. They have ICE detainers, who are sexual predators, who are criminals, who are murderers.”
New Mexico
After Trump won the 2024 presidential election, New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, a Democrat, said her state will not help Trump with his plans to deport migrants in the country illegally.
“Disrupting family status and the economy, inhumane, cruel, unfair, discriminate policies that, again, are illegal on their face, we are not going to cooperate any way in that effort,” Lujan Grisham said.
New Mexico shares 184 miles of the southern border with Mexico, ranking third behind Arizona with 372 miles and Texas with 1,241 miles.
“I need more border control agents. We want more interdictions on the drug trafficking and human trafficking and bringing guns across. We want all of that. I need technology and fentanyl screening, I want cameras, we want all the smart devices and efforts. I need real personnel at the border,” she said.
New Mexico Republicans proposed bills that would force the state to comply but their efforts may not bear fruit in the Democratic-controlled legislature.
Nevada
Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo and 25 other Republican governors pledged support for Trump’s deportation plans on Dec. 11., including Utah’s Gov. Cox.
“We stand ready to utilize every tool at our disposal — whether through state law enforcement or the National Guard — to support President Trump in this vital mission,” the statement from the Republican Governors Association said.
Despite making this promise of unity in the face of illegal immigration and drug and human trafficking, Lombardo still questioned the role the state governments are expected to play. Days before he signed the pledge, the Nevada governor said, “It’s too soon to opine on the nebulous or the unknown,” as the Nevada Current reported. “A lot of things, I know, get promised during campaigns, and then the practicality of implementing those comes to bear,” he added.
On the local level, the Las Vegas Police Department said it will not assist the federal government in finding and deporting migrants in the country illegally.
“That’s not my job,” Clark County Sheriff Kevin McMahill said in an appearance on KLAS-TV in late January.