SAN FRANCISCO — In the latest national battle over immigration, San Francisco on Friday announced it was filing a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration’s recent directives to prosecute local officials who impede deportation efforts and withhold federal funding from so-called sanctuary cities.
“The Trump administration is asserting a right it does not have,” City Atty. David Chiu said during a news conference announcing the lawsuit. “This is the federal government coercing local officials to bend to their will or face defunding or prosecution, and that is illegal or authoritarian. And last I checked, we still live in a democracy under the rule of law, and the federal government needs to follow the law.”
The lawsuit, to be filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, will focus on two recent directives issued by the U.S. Department of Justice that pledge to withhold federal funding from sanctuary cities and threaten civil and criminal prosecution against state and local officials accused of impeding deportation actions.
A Jan. 21 Justice Department memo warns local jurisdictions that “federal law prohibits state and local actors from resisting, obstructing, and otherwise failing to comply with lawful immigration-related commands and requests,” and that sanctuary laws “threaten public safety and national security.” A more pointed memo on Feb. 5 calls for the end of federal funding to cities and states that “unlawfully interfere with federal law enforcement operations,” and includes a strategy to “investigate incidents involving any such misconduct and shall, where supported by the evidence, prosecute violations of federal laws.”
The memos followed an executive order that President Trump signed soon after taking office on Jan. 20 that threatened to cut federal funding to sanctuary cities and called for prosecution of those that hinder enforcement.
The orders have infused panic in immigrant communities nationwide as Trump promises widespread deportations of undocumented immigrants, as well as confusion and concern in local jurisdictions over whether their federal funding could be revoked if they do not take part in those efforts.
San Francisco’s lawsuit aims to block the federal government from enforcing the directives, alleging they are unconstitutional and a violation of state rights, congressional spending authority and due process.
San Francisco receives $3.1 billion in annual federal funding, according to the city attorney’s office, money that covers a swath of programs, including health, education, transportation and infrastructure initiatives. The city receives at least $8.7 million annually from the U.S. Department of Justice for public safety programs. Chiu said the withdrawal of federal funding would be “catastrophic” to San Francisco’s ability to pay for services.
San Francisco is one of many jurisdictions across California that have declared themselves sanctuary cities. The term generally applies to policies that limit local officials from cooperating with federal authorities on civil immigration enforcement duties.
California’s 2017 sanctuary law, the California Values Act, prohibits state and local law enforcement agencies from investigating, interrogating and arresting people simply for immigration enforcement purposes. The law does not prevent federal authorities from carrying out those enforcement duties in California. And it does allow local police to cooperate with federal immigration officials in limited circumstances, including in cases involving immigrants convicted of certain violent felonies and misdemeanors.
Under L.A.’s sanctuary city law, city employees and city property may not be used to “investigate, cite, arrest, hold, transfer or detain any person” for the purpose of immigration enforcement.
Chiu said the lawsuit was more urgent after the Trump administration on Thursday sued Chicago and the state of Illinois, alleging their sanctuary measures were illegally blocking federal immigration actions.
During Trump’s first term in office, San Francisco successfully sued the administration over a similar directive to limit federal money flowing to cities that did not aid federal agents in immigration enforcement actions. Chiu said Friday that the federal government is still entitled to carry out immigration enforcement actions, and that it is within San Francisco’s authority not to assist in deportations.
“No one is interfering with the federal government’s ability to do its job,” Chiu said.
San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie echoed that sentiment: “My priority is keeping San Franciscans safe, and that means keeping local law enforcement focused on local public safety,” Lurie said in a prepared statement. “Our city’s longstanding policies generally prohibit local law enforcement from participating in federal immigration enforcement, and those policies make us safer — that’s why I will uphold them.”
San Francisco is partnering with Santa Clara County to spearhead the lawsuit. A coalition of local jurisdictions have signed onto the legal filing, including Portland, Ore., New Haven, Conn., and King County, Wash.
“The federal government can’t commandeer our local government. They can’t commandeer our local resources, and they can’t commandeer our local law enforcement to help them carry out a vision of mass deportation,” Tony LoPresti, county counsel for Santa Clara County, said at the news conference.
