A federal judge in San Francisco blocked the Trump administration from withholding federal funds from “sanctuary” jurisdictions, claiming doing so would be unconstitutional.
U.S. District Judge William H. Orrick – who was nominated to the Northern District of California bench by former President Barack Obama – said that Trump’s executive orders instructing Attorney General Pam Bondi and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to withhold federal funds from “sanctuary” cities and counties that do not cooperate with federal immigration law would violate the Constitution’s separation of powers principles and the Spending Clause.
The judge said Trump’s orders – titled “Protecting the American People Against Invasion” and “Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Open Borders” – also violate the Fifth Amendment “to the extent they are unconstitutionally vague and violate due process.” Trump’s directives “also violate the Tenth Amendment because they impose coercive condition intended to commandeer local officials into enforcing federal immigration practices and law,” Orrick wrote.
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Most of the plaintiffs are jurisdiction in California. They are the city and county of San Francisco, Santa Clara County, Monterey County and the cities of Oakland, Emeryville, San Jose, San Diego, Sacramento and Santa Cruz.
Portland, Oregon; New Haven, Connecticut; Minneapolis and St. Paul, both of Minnesota; Santa Fe, New Mexico; and King County – where Seattle is located in Washington state – are also in the lawsuit.
“The Cities and Counties have also demonstrated a likelihood of irreparable harm,” the judge said. “The threat to withhold funding causes them irreparable injury in the form of budgetary uncertainty, deprivation of constitutional rights, and undermining trust between the Cities and Counties and the communities they serve.”
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In granting the “sanctuary” jurisdictions a preliminary injunction, Orrick wrote that “defendants and their officers, agents, servants, employees, and attorneys, and any other persons who are in active concert or participation with them ARE HEREBY RESTRAINED AND ENJOINED from directly or indirectly taking any action to withhold, freeze, or condition federal funds.”
The judge ordered the Trump administration to provide written notice of the court order to all federal departments and agencies by Monday, April 28.
“The written notice shall instruct those agencies that they may not take steps to withhold from, freeze, or condition funds to the Cities and Counties,” Orrick wrote.
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Orrick already found a similar executive order issued by Trump in 2017 to be unconstitutional, and the judge said so are the two new directives issued at the start of Trump’s second term.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.