US judge blocks Trump from withholding funds from 16 'sanctuary' cities, counties

[LetMyPeopleVote]

Source: Reuters

April 24 (Reuters) - A federal judge in San Francisco on Thursday blocked Donald Trump's administration from withholding federal funding from several so-called sanctuary jurisdictions that have declined to cooperate with the Republican president's fhardline immigration crackdown.

U.S. District Judge William Orrick issued the injunction, opens new tab at the request of 16 cities and counties nationally led by San Francisco that in a lawsuit filed in February argued that the administration was unlawfully trying to force local officials to cooperate with federal immigration arrests.

Those jurisdictions include the cities of Minneapolis, New Haven, Portland, St. Paul, Santa Fe and Seattle. They argue that the administration is seeking to punish them for exercising their rights to limit the use of their resources for federal civil immigration enforcement.

The lawsuit challenged an executive order Trump signed that threatened to cut off federal funding to sanctuary jurisdictions that limit or refuse to cooperate with federal immigration law enforcement, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The localities sued a day after the U.S. Department of Justice sued the state of Illinois and the city of Chicago, seeking a court order blocking so-called sanctuary laws that the Democratic-led jurisdictions adopted that it said were interfering with Trump's agenda

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/legal/us-judge-blocks-trump-withholding-funds-16-sanctuary-cities-counties-2025-04-24/

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[LetMyPeopleVote]

1. This ruling makes me smile

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[mdbl]

2. You mean someone finally realized it's not within his authority

to override laws that have been passed already?

[Bengus81]

3. Bloodshot,sleepy Don looking eyes. I think this term is killing him.......

Please...HURRY!!

[yowzayowzayowza]

4. Good thing the Courts are open and the focus...

is on Comrade Bonespurs.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

5. This ruling made me smile

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[LetMyPeopleVote]

6. Trump can't withhold funds from 'sanctuary' cities, federal judge says

U.S. District Judge William H. Orrick said a presidential executive order violates the Constitution’s separation-of-powers principles and spending clause.
https://bsky.app/profile/dgwoods.bsky.social/post/3lnlk5jhguc2z

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/04/24/federal-judge-blocks-trump-withholding-funds-sanctuary-cities/

A federal judge on Tuesday blocked the Trump administration from pulling federal funds from San Francisco, Santa Clara County, and 14 other cities and counties it deems “sanctuary jurisdictions,” handing another legal blow to President Donald Trump’s crackdown on immigration.

U.S. District Judge William H. Orrick of the Northern District of California granted the preliminary injunction and in his order cited a similar executive action from the Trump administration in 2017 — which Orrick also presided over and blocked — that attempted to halt funds and was found to be unconstitutional nationwide.

Orrick referred to precedent in that ruling and in his order said again that such spending powers are constitutionally vested in Congress. He said attempts by the president to place conditions on federal funds violate the separation of powers.

The administration is restrained and enjoined “from directly or indirectly taking any action to withhold, freeze, or condition federal funds from the Cities and Counties,” Orrick wrote, mandating that the Trump administration “provide written notice of this Order to all federal departments and agencies” by Monday......

In siding with the plaintiffs, Orrick also agreed that 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.”