A federal judge on Friday blocked the Trump administration from cutting off federal funding to dozens of “sanctuary” cities and counties — covering several of the largest cities in the U.S.
The judge had previously ruled in April that it was unconstitutional for President Trump to freeze funding for local governments that limit their cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement — commonly known as sanctuary cities. That ruling applied to more than a dozen cities and counties that had sued the Trump administration for threatening to cut off funding, including San Francisco, Sacramento, Minneapolis and Seattle.
On Friday, San Francisco-based U.S. District Judge William Orrick extended his order to dozens of other places that joined the lawsuit. Those include the second- and third-largest cities in the U.S. — Los Angeles and Chicago — as well as Boston, Baltimore, Denver and Albuquerque.
CBS News has reached out to the White House for comment.
As Mr. Trump seeks to dramatically boost arrests and deportations of undocumented immigrants, top administration officials have pushed local governments to assist — and they’ve sought to punish so-called sanctuary jurisdictions with laws on the books that prevent police from helping ICE.
Within hours of returning to office in January, Mr. Trump ordered his administration to ensure sanctuary jurisdictions “do not receive access to Federal funds.” Weeks later, the president ordered that federal funding shouldn’t “facilitate the subsidization or promotion of illegal immigration,” and Attorney General Pam Bondi said the Justice Department will not offer grants to sanctuary cities. The administration argues sanctuary cities are interfering with federal law enforcement and making it harder for ICE to arrest undocumented immigrants, including violent criminals.
The cities and counties that are suing the administration call those policies an “abuse of power” and allege they violate the Tenth Amendment, which says any powers that aren’t given to the federal government should be reserved to the states. They argue that local governments are entitled to choose not to assist ICE, often casting sanctuary policies as a way of building trust between police and local residents whose immigration status may make them wary of reporting crimes.
“In flagrant disregard of the law, President Trump seeks once again to punish those who disagree with him, coerce local authorities, and commandeer them into carrying out his agenda,” the cities’ lawsuit says.
The Trump administration’s moves against sanctuary cities have generated a flurry of lawsuits, including one suit filed earlier this week by 20 states over the Justice Department’s decision to tie crime victim grants to immigration enforcement.
The Justice Department has also vowed to sue dozens of alleged sanctuary jurisdictions, including both cities and states. The administration sued New York City and the state of Illinois over their sanctuary policies earlier this year, though the Illinois suit was tossed out by a judge last month.
