Attorney General Austin Knudsen praised the Helena City Commission after it voted Thursday night to rescind its immigration resolution, calling the move the right step to keep the community safe.
“The commissioners made the right decision voting to keep the Helena community safe,” Knudsen said in a statement. “This resolution should never have been passed in the first place. My office will continue to hold any jurisdictions in violation of Montana’s sanctuary city prohibition accountable.”
The commission voted to repeal the measure, which had drawn scrutiny from state officials after it restricted local police cooperation with federal immigration enforcement. The vote came roughly two months after city leaders first approved the resolution in January.
The dispute escalated in February, when Knudsen and Gov. Greg Gianforte announced that the Montana Department of Justice was opening an investigation into whether Helena’s policy violated the state’s ban on sanctuary cities.
Gianforte also applauded the city’s reversal, saying Helena made the right decision by allowing its police department to continue cooperating with federal immigration authorities.
During Thursday’s special meeting, held at the Helena Civic Center to accommodate a large crowd, outside attorney Natasha P. Jones advised commissioners to fully rescind the resolution. She warned the city faced potentially costly penalties and litigation if it remained out of compliance with state law.
Jones told commissioners she did not believe state officials would be open to further revisions without consultation and said attempting to rewrite the policy independently would likely waste resources.
Under Montana law, the city risked fines of $10,000 for every five days it was found out of compliance, along with potential losses of future grant funding. Helena Finance Director Sheila Danielson said the city received roughly $14 million in state and federal funding during the last fiscal year.
The vote marked a significant win for Knudsen and Gianforte, who have prioritized enforcement of Montana’s sanctuary city prohibition and warned local governments they would face consequences for policies that limit cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.