Legal/Law/Criminal Justice and Reform

Obama-Appointed Judge Blocks Trump From Denying Funds To Sanctuary Cities

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An Obama-appointed judge blocked the Trump administration from denying federal funds to jurisdictions that refuse to cooperate with federal immigration officials.

U.S. District Judge William Orrick, appointed to the bench in California by President Barack Obama in 2013, ruled Thursday that a pair of executive orders signed by President Donald Trump aiming to crack down on sanctuary cities are likely unconstitutional, according to court documents. San Francisco, San Diego County and a slate of other liberal enclaves that refuse to work with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents sued to block the orders from going into effect.

“Here we are again,” Orrick wrote, referring to a previous executive order Trump signed in his first term seeking to defund sanctuary cities — an order that the judge also shot down at the time.

In 2017, Trump signed Executive Order 13,768, titled “Enhancing Public Safety in the Interior of the United States,” a directive that sought to withhold federal funds from sanctuary cities. Following a court challenge by San Francisco, Orrick ruled the order to be unconstitutional and that the defendants “faced irreparable harm absent an injunction,” according to court documents.

In his order Thursday, the Obama-appointed judge argued that Trump’s latest directives — Protecting the American People Against Invasion and Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Open Borders — are nearly identical to the executive order he shot down during his first term.

“The Cities and Counties have also demonstrated a likelihood of irreparable harm,” Orrick wrote. “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.”

Orrick barred the Trump administration from “directly or indirectly taking any action to withhold, freeze, or condition federal funds” and gave the White House a Monday deadline to provide all federal departments and agencies with a written notice of his order, according to court documents.

While there is no official definition for a “sanctuary city” law or policy, the label generally describes any rule that restricts local officials from assisting or otherwise cooperating with ICE agents. Common sanctuary city policies prohibit local law enforcement from honoring ICE detainer requests, sharing information with ICE or notifying the agency of an impending release of a wanted illegal migrant.

While state and local officials are largely not required to get involved in federal immigration matters, the administration has cautioned that blatant obstruction is against the law. Border czar Tom Homan previously told the Daily Caller News Foundation that any individual found obstructing an ICE agent’s mission would be referred to prosecution.

Trump has made immigration enforcement a top priority, and his top officials have already laid the groundwork to push sanctuary city roadblocks out of the way. Beyond the executive orders that seek to defund sanctuary jurisdictions, the administration has established a task force to investigate sanctuary localities that may be in violation of the law and Attorney General Pam Bondi ordered to pull funding from sanctuary jurisdictions the day she was sworn into office in February.