A federal judge in San Francisco has added Los Angeles and several other U.S. jurisdictions to the list of so-called “sanctuary cities” that cannot have their government funding cut by the Trump administration, it was reported Saturday.
U.S. District Judge William Orrick of the Northern District of California, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, issued the ruling late Friday, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Orrick issued a preliminary injunction Friday that adds to restrictions the court handed down in April blocking funding cuts to 16 cities and counties, including San Francisco and Santa Clara. The judge ruled then that President Donald Trump’s executive order cutting funding to the so-called sanctuary jurisdictions violated the separation of powers doctrine of the U.S. Constitution.
Administration officials vowed to appeal the ruling.
“The government — at all levels — has the duty to protect American citizens from harm,” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said in a statement, The Times reported. “Sanctuary cities interfere with federal immigration enforcement at the expense and safety and security of American citizens. We look forward to ultimate vindication on the issue.”
In late June, the U.S. Department of Justice sued Los Angeles, alleged that its sanctuary-city policies violate the Constitution by “thwarting” immigration enforcement.
The lawsuit contends that the sanctuary laws — in which local law enforcement officials refuse to assist federal immigration enforcement efforts — are illegal, and expressly designed to “obstruct the federal government’s enforcement of federal immigration law and impede consultation and communication between federal, state, and local law enforcement officials that is necessary for federal officials to carry out federal immigration law and keep Americans safe.”