Gianforte says Montana stopped Helena sanctuary city policies, threatens penalties

Helena’s brief attempt to redefine how police handle immigration enforcement ended under pressure from state officials, leaving the capital city with no new policy in place and a sharper clash over how far Montana can go to police local government. Gov. Greg Gianforte now says his administration stopped sanctuary-city policies in Helena, while Attorney General Austin Knudsen has warned of civil penalties if jurisdictions cross the line.

The dispute began Jan. 26, when the Helena City Commission voted 4-1 to adopt Resolution No. 21062. The measure addressed how Helena police would interact with federal immigration enforcement, and state and local reporting described it as directing officers to avoid helping federal immigration operations. Gianforte and Knudsen announced a state investigation on Feb. 11, saying the resolution may violate House Bill 200, the 2021 law Gianforte signed that bans sanctuary-city policies in Montana and gives the attorney general authority to seek civil action against jurisdictions found in violation.

State officials later escalated the warning, saying violations could bring steep consequences, including fines and the possible withholding of state funds. On March 10, the City of Helena received a letter from the attorney general’s office outlining the opinion that Resolution No. 21062 violated state law. By March 26, Helena commissioners had rescinded the resolution, though some signaled they might try again with revised language.

The fight landed hard in Helena, where hundreds of residents packed the commission meeting and roughly 80 people spoke. Only three of those public comments opposed the resolution, according to Montana Public Radio, underscoring the local support for stronger protections for immigrants even as state leaders moved to shut the effort down. Helena officials said the resolution had been drafted with local, state and federal law in mind, and that the city had not received formal notice from the governor’s or attorney general’s office when the issue first erupted publicly.

The controversy also revived a broader argument over whether Montana really has sanctuary cities in the conventional sense. Kelly Lynch, executive director of the Montana League of Cities and Towns, said the state does not actually have sanctuary cities and noted her organization opposed House Bill 200 when it passed in 2021. For Helena and Lewis and Clark County, where the population was estimated at 75,331 and the foreign-born share was 1.9%, the episode produced less a practical change in street-level policing than a test of who controls local policy in the state capital.