San Francisco leads challenge to Trump administration's threats to defund sanctuary cities

SAN FRANCISCO (CN) — San Francisco County, Santa Clara County and a coalition of local jurisdictions from across the country are suing President Donald Trump’s administration over executive orders that promise to defund sanctuary cities like San Francisco.

Since taking office, Trump has sought to force local jurisdictions to carry out his policy priorities and to “commandeer local law enforcement officers to take on the role of federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents,” San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu’s office said in a statement.

“The federal actions make clear that jurisdictions will be defunded if they do not give up their legal authority and comply.”

The lawsuit, which will be filed Friday in San Francisco federal court, comes on the heels of the Department of Justice suingIllinois, Chicago and Cook County Thursday because they will not help Trump deport undocumented immigrants. The Chicago suit is the first federal legal attempt to punish sanctuary cities that do not allow their police departments to cooperate with immigration agents to enforce immigration law.

Earlier this week, newly appointed Attorney General Pam Bondi also promised to withhold federal funds from sanctuary cities in her first two weeks in office.

The threats of defunding are especially alarming for cities like San Francisco, where services such as Bay Area Rapid Transit are starting at a fiscal cliff. San Francisco and Santa Clara could potentially lose billions of dollars in funding for necessary services, said Chiu and Tony LoPresti, who represents Santa Clara County.

“This is the federal government illegally asserting a right it does not have, telling cities how to use their resources, and commandeering local law enforcement. This is the federal government coercing local officials to bend to their will or face defunding or prosecution,” Chiu said. “That is illegal and authoritarian. As local officials, we have a right to do our jobs without threats and interference from the federal government.”

Along with Santa Clara County, San Francisco County is joined by Portland, Oregon, New Haven, Connecticut and King County in Washington state.

Chiu said that more jurisdictions will join the coalition and that at least one more Bay Area county will join the coalition in the future but did not say which county it would be.

In Trump’s first term, a federal judge blocked a similar executive order from Trump that ordered sanctuary cities to be defunded. The judge’s ruling was upheld on appeal; the Ninth Circuit ruled the order unconstitutional.

San Francisco’s sanctuary city law was signed in 1989. The ordinance largely prohibits San Francisco police from using any city funds or resources to assist immigration agents unless it’s required by federal or state law.

Chiu said the new executive order is similar to Trump’s blocked order from 2017, but now, Trump is threatening officials at the state and local level with prosecution, civil penalties and criminal penalties.

The city attorney has touted sanctuary city laws as a way to deter crime and improve public safety, and said statistics show immigrants do not commit crimes any more than the rest of the population.

As a result of sanctuary laws, crime victims and witnesses are willing to come forward and report crimes to police, Chiu said. Getting rid of sanctuary laws can erode trust between immigrants and law enforcement as immigrants with no criminal record are rounded up and deported.

Chiu said that if sanctuary laws were eliminated it would make immigrant populations fearful to report crime, go to schools or work, or visit hospitals for healthcare.

“The federal government knows the identity and has the fingerprints of every inmate in San Francisco’s jails. If the federal government has legal reason to arrest someone, they can do so by obtaining a criminal warrant or a court order,” he said.

The lawsuit asks the court to declare Trump’s order unlawful and enjoin the government from enforcing them.