Judge Blocks Trump Effort to Withhold Money From Sanctuary Cities

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Judge Blocks Trump Effort to Withhold Money From Sanctuary Cities

By VIVIAN YEE, APRIL 25, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/0...ary-cities.html?_r=0

A federal judge in California on Tuesday temporarily blocked the Trump administration’s efforts to withhold funding from cities that limit their cooperation with federal immigration enforcement, another setback for President Trump in what is shaping up to be a long season of litigation surrounding the clash between the White House and so-called sanctuary cities.

The judge, William H. Orrick of United States District Court for the Northern District of California, issued a nationwide preliminary injunction against the administration, directing it to stop trying to cut off aid to sanctuary jurisdictions. But the order does not prevent the federal government from moving forward on designating certain places as “sanctuaries,” nor does it keep the administration from enforcing conditions for doling out federal money if they already exist, as the Justice Department has already begun to do with some law enforcement grants.

San Francisco and Santa Clara County, which had asked the judge for an injunction, “have a strong interest in avoiding unconstitutional federal enforcement and the significant budget uncertainty that has resulted from the Order’s broad and threatening language,” the judge wrote, referring to Mr. Trump’s January executive order on immigration.

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Former Member

Protesters outside United States District Court in San Francisco this month. Credit Haven Daley/Associated Press.

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4/25/177:03 PM

Former Member

Trump gets yet another bump in his rump as he scrambles aimlessly to find the first rung to mount the leadership ladder.

4/25/177:06 PM

Former Member

What Are Sanctuary Cities?

By JASMINE C. LEE, RUDY OMRI and JULIA PRESTON UPDATED February 6, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/intera...e&pgtype=article

Five days after taking office, President Trump signed an executive order to block federal funding to “sanctuary cities,” a term that has been used to generally describe places that limit how local law enforcement can cooperate with federal immigration agents.

It was not immediately clear which jurisdictions would be subject to the order, said Lena Graber, a special projects lawyer at the Immigrant Legal Resource Center.

The order targets jurisdictions that hinder communication with the Department of Homeland Security about a person’s immigration status, Ms. Graber said. She did not think the sanctuary policies now in place in cities across the country were in violation of the order.

At least five states have laws that limit how much the local police can cooperate with federal immigration agents.

Vermont, Oregon, Connecticut, Rhode Island,California

The New York Times

The maps shown here are based on data collected by the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, specifically looking at jurisdictions that limit how much the local police cooperate with requests from federal authorities to hold immigrants in detention.

The center found at least 633 counties with these policies.

The New York Times

Policies limiting cooperation with immigration detainers are typically in place at the county and state level, Ms. Graber said. In cities, sanctuary policies often mean local officials do not ask about a person’s immigration status, but there is no universal definition for a sanctuary city.

Compiling a comprehensive list of cities that could be considered sanctuaries is challenging. In some places, officials have publicly declared their city to be a sanctuary, but the city may not have actual policies in place.

County policies, Ms. Graber said, are actually the most relevant in the debate over immigration enforcement.

Mr. Trump and many Republicans say sanctuary cities allow criminals to go free, leading to crimes that could have been avoided if the immigrants had been deported.

Many local law enforcement officials favor the policies, saying they do not want the job of enforcing federal immigration laws. They say they rely on immigrants in their communities to come forward to report crimes.

None of the protective policies prevent the police from pursuing immigrants who commit crimes.

4/25/177:13 PM