SAN FRANCISCO — In the latest national battle over immigration, San Francisco on Friday announced it was filing a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration’s recent directives to prosecute local officials who impede deportation efforts and withhold federal funding from so-called sanctuary cities.
“The Trump administration is asserting a right it does not have,” City Atty. David Chiu said during a news conference announcing the lawsuit. “This is the federal government coercing local officials to bend to their will or face defunding or prosecution, and that is illegal or authoritarian. And last I checked, we still live in a democracy under the rule of law, and the federal government needs to follow the law.”
The lawsuit, to be filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, will focus on two recent executive orders by the U.S. Department of Justice that pledge to withhold federal funding from sanctuary cities and threaten civil and criminal prosecution against state and local officials accused of impeding deportation actions.
A Jan. 21 memo Justice Department memo warns local jurisdictions that “federal law prohibits state and local actors from resisting, obstructing, and otherwise failing to comply with lawful immigration-related commands and requests,” and that sanctuary laws “threaten public safety and national security.” A more pointed memo on Feb. 5 calls for the end of federal funding to cities and states that “unlawfully interfere with federal law enforcement operations,” and includes a more detailed strategy to “investigate incidents involving any such misconduct and shall, where supported by the evidence, prosecute violations of federal laws.”
The memos followed an executive order Trump signed soon after taking office on Jan. 20 that threatened federal funding to sanctuary cities and called for prosecution of those that hinder enforcement, a move that immediately launched a new war over immigration since Trump left office in 2020.
The orders have infused panic and confusion in immigrant communities throughout California and nationwide as Trump promises widespread deportations, while sparking concern among local jurisdictions over whether their federal funding could soon be revoked if they do not comply with the immigration crackdowns.
San Francisco’s lawsuit aims to block the federal government from enforcing the directives, alleging they are unconstitutional and a violation of states’ rights, separation of power, Congress’ spending authority and due process.
San Francisco receives $3.1 billion in federal funding overall, according to the city attorney’s office, money that covers a huge swath of programs from Medicaid to health, education, transportation and infrastructure initiatives. The city receives at least $8.7 million from the U.S. Department of Justice for public safety programs. Chiu said the withdrawal of federal funding would be “catastrophic” to San Francisco’s ability to pay for much-needed services.
San Francisco is one of many cities across California that have guaranteed legal protections for immigrants without legal status by restriction collaboration between local law enforcement and Immigration and Customs Enforcement authorities. State lawmakers in 2017 passed a bill declaring California a sanctuary state by restricting whom state and local law enforcement officers can hold and question on immigration violations.
Chiu said the lawsuit was more urgent after the Trump administration on Thursday sued Chicago and the state of Illinois over allegations that sanctuary laws are illegally blocking federal immigration actions. The lawsuit signals that during his second term in office, Trump is more willing to use his executive authority and allies at his Justice Department to target jurisdictions he sees as obstacles to his anti-immigration plans.
“The conduct of officials in Chicago and Illinois minimally enforcing — and oftentimes affirmatively thwarting — federal immigration laws over a period of years has resulted in countless criminals being released into Chicago who should have been held for immigration removal from the United States,” the lawsuit states.
During his first term in office, San Francisco successfully sued Trump over a similar order to limit federal money flowing to cities that resisted immigration enforcement actions. Chiu said that Trump’s latest order is similar to the one he made during his first term, with the added threat of prosecution. He said the new lawsuit reinforces arguments made during the first legal battle that the federal government does not have legal authority to withhold federal funding or dismantle sanctuary laws. Chiu added that the federal government is still entitled to carry out immigration enforcement actions, and that it is within San Francisco’s, and other jurisdictions’, authority not to assist in deportations.
“No one is interfering with the federal government’s ability to do its job,” Chiu said. “But the Trump administration is certainly interfering with our ability to do our job. They’re trying to take away our autonomy and interfering with our ability to keep our residents safe.”
San Francisco is co-leading the lawsuit with Santa Clara County, and the coalition of local jurisdictions that have signed on to the legal filing also includes Portland, Ore., New Haven, Conn. and King County, Wash. Neither Los Angeles City or County have at this point signed on to the lawsuit.
“The federal government can’t commandeer our local government. They can’t commandeer our local resources, and they can’t commandeer our local law enforcement to help them carry out a vision of mass deportation,” Tony LoPresti, county counsel for Santa Clara County, said at the press conference.
This story originally appeared on LA Times
