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U.S. District Judge William Orrick in San Francisco extended a
preliminary injunction blocking the administration from cutting
off or conditioning the use of federal funds for so-called
“sanctuary” jurisdictions. His earlier order protected more than
a dozen other cities and counties, including San Francisco,
Portland and Seattle.
An email to the White House late Friday was not immediately
returned. In his ruling, Orrick said the administration had
offered no opposition to an extended injunction except to say
the first injunction was wrong. It has appealed the first order.
Orrick also blocked the administration from imposing
immigration-related conditions on two particular grant programs.
The Trump administration has ratcheted up pressure on sanctuary
communities as it seeks to make good on President Donald Trump’s
campaign promise to remove millions of people in the country
illegally.
One executive order issued by Trump directs Attorney General Pam
Bondi and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to withhold
federal money from sanctuary jurisdictions. Another order
directs every federal agency to ensure that payments to state
and local governments do not “abet so-called ‘sanctuary’
policies that seek to shield illegal aliens from deportation.”
The cities and counties that sued said billions of dollars were
at risk.
Orrick, who was nominated by President Barack Obama, said the
executive orders and the “executive actions that have parroted
them” were an unconstitutional “coercive threat.”
In May, the Department of Homeland Security published a list of
more than 500 “sanctuary jurisdictions,” saying each one would
receive formal notification that the government had deemed them
noncompliant. It also said it would inform them if they were
believed to be in violation of any federal criminal statutes.
The list was later removed from the department’s website after
critics noted it included localities that have actively
supported the administration’s tough immigration policies.
The Justice Department has also sued New York, Los Angeles and
other cities over their sanctuary policies.
There is no strict definition for sanctuary cities, but the
terms generally describe places that limit cooperation with
Immigration and Customs Enforcement. ICE enforces immigration
laws nationwide but seeks help from state and local authorities
to identify immigrants wanted for deportation and hold them for
federal officers.
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