After more than five hours of public testimony and deliberation, the Helena city commission voted Thursday to rescind an immigration enforcement resolution it had approved in January, a decision it made shortly after Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen warned the city about legal risk tied to the state’s sanctuary-city prohibition.
In a 4-1 vote, commissioners scrapped the January measure that had restricted Helena police from entering into a federal partnership with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement known as a 287(g) agreement and from disclosing a person’s place of birth, immigration status or national origin except when required by law or by a valid court order.
Mayor Emily Dean and commissioners Sean Logan, Julia Gustafson and Ben Rigby supported rescinding the policy, while Commissioner Melinda Reed cast the lone vote against doing so. Dean later called for a recess after members of the public shouted “shame” and directed profanities at city officials, and when the meeting resumed the commission directed city attorneys to begin redrafting the resolution and invite the attorney general’s office to discuss revised language. That follow-up motion also passed 4-1, with Reed again dissenting.
In statements Friday morning, Knudsen and Gov. Greg Gianforte welcomed the commission’s decision. Knudsen wrote that “The commissioners made the right decision voting to keep the Helena community safe,” adding that “This resolution should never have been passed in the first place,” and said his office would continue holding jurisdictions in violation of Montana’s sanctuary city prohibition accountable. Gianforte, in a Facebook post, said Montana “banned sanctuary cities to keep our cities safe” and credited Helena for rescinding its resolution and allowing the Helena Police Department to continue cooperation with federal immigration authorities.
The meeting’s legal and financial discussion centered on advice from Natasha P. Jones, an outside attorney the city hired to consult on the legality of the resolution. Jones recommended that the commission rescind the entire measure, saying penalties and litigation expenses could follow if Helena remained noncompliant. She pointed to Montana’s 2021 sanctuary-city ban and the possibility of a state investigation, and she told commissioners she did not think state officials would be receptive to further attempts to amend the resolution without consultation from the other side of the table.
Jones also described specific penalties under state law, including fines of $10,000 for every five days the city is found to be out of compliance, which she said could be counted from the date Helena passed the resolution in January. She added that the law also indicates uncooperative cities could lose future public grant dollars and have funding for commerce and infrastructure projects compromised, and Helena’s financial director, Sheila Danielson, told commissioners the city had roughly $14 million in state and federal funding in the last fiscal year.
Public comment during the special meeting was sharply divided. Some supporters of the January resolution argued that Knudsen and Gianforte’s actions—after they helped announce the state’s investigation of the capital city—amounted to “bullying” and “extortion,” while others urged commissioners to listen to state leaders and avoid deepening what they described as a political feud. Several commenters rejected the characterization of Helena as a “sanctuary city,” and attorney Barbara Chillcott, a Helena resident, told commissioners that rescinding the resolution would not restore local power.
Chillcott said she believed rescinding would shift authority “to the attorney general and the governor” and argued the resolution reflected community values, while Michael Wells, an opponent of the resolution, said the vote would be a “sad waste” of time and finances and recommended commissioners rescind the policy and “get about your business of building our city as a great place to live.” Reed, meanwhile, argued for maintaining the January resolution and said she was trying to determine “What is the price point for maintaining our rights, for maintaining local control?” before saying she would not be governed “by fear” and would not govern with fear.
Dean said the commission had been drawn into a “fight that is rigged,” adding that she was more concerned than ever about state overreach and what it may dictate for Montana communities’ ability to define values. Logan told the public shortly before 11 p.m. that commissioners had “a lot to risk” and that “there is a lot of financial risk in front of us,” framing the rescind vote in terms of potential consequences for the city.
The January resolution came after months of organizing by residents who urged the city to act amid a nationwide push by the Trump administration for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to ramp up arrests of undocumented immigrants. The dispute gained local attention after ICE detained Christopher Martinez Marvan, a Mexican citizen who had lived and worked in Helena since 2008 with his wife and children, following a stop by Helena police and federal immigration enforcement during a search for two unrelated Venezuelan men.
The AP investigation recounted that in a cease-and-desist letter, Knudsen directed Helena to explain how the resolution complied with state law and identified two sections he said interfered with Montana’s sanctuary-city prohibition. In that context, Jones told commissioners that while Montana’s ban on sanctuary cities had not been litigated, the resolution was similar to other state laws in Texas and Florida that had been upheld as constitutional, and she argued the city’s chances of negotiation or successful revision were limited without engaging state officials directly. She told commissioners it would be a “waste of resources” and an “improper process” to try to revise the measure without consulting the attorney general’s office, and she added that state officials could find additional problems in any amended language.
Thursday’s meeting drew more than 200 people in person and about 175 online at peak participation, with the commission directing city attorneys to update commissioners on outreach to Knudsen’s office within 30 days. The decision follows a period during which Helena had been investigated over potential sanctuary-city ban violations, MSI previously reported.