U.S. Judge Blocks Trump’s Funding Withholding from Sanctuary Cities

By Dietrich Knauth and Nate Raymond

(Reuters) – A U.S. federal judge on Friday blocked Donald Trump’s administration from withholding federal funding from over 30 sanctuary jurisdictions, including Los Angeles, Baltimore, Boston, and Chicago. These jurisdictions have declined to cooperate with Trump’s hardline immigration policies.

U.S. District Judge William Orrick expanded an existing injunction he issued in April, which covered 16 cities and counties, to include new local governments seeking protection under his court order.

The lawsuit emerged after Trump signed two executive orders in January and February, which the cities argued unlawfully threatened to cut off their funding unless they cooperated with federal immigration law enforcement. The orders specifically targeted sanctuary jurisdictions that limit local law enforcement’s assistance with federal immigration arrests.

Judge Orrick stated that Trump’s orders threaten to withhold all federal funding from the plaintiffs unless they conformed to the administration’s policies. He declared that such threats, and any subsequent actions, are unconstitutional, leading him to issue an injunction for the new parties involved.

The White House has not yet commented, and the Trump administration is appealing Orrick’s earlier ruling. Los Angeles is among the cities included in the new order, while Trump’s deployment of the National Guard in Los Angeles to oversee protests against federal immigration raids is under separate legal consideration by California Governor Gavin Newsom.