Trump’s ‘sanctuary-city’ order blocked by federal judge in San Francisco

A federal judge in San Francisco dealt the Trump administration another legal blow Tuesday, temporarily halting President Trump’ s threat to withhold federal funding from cities and towns that refuse to cooperate with immigration authorities.

District Judge William H. Orrick imposed a nationwide injunction against a Jan 25 executive order authorizing the Attorney General to withhold federal grant money from so -called sanctuary jurisdictions that do not cooperate with U .S . immigration officials . Orrick called the order “broad ” and “ vague ” and said the plaintiffs , the city of San Francisco and Santa Clara County , were likely to succeed on the merits of their lawsuits challenging it .

In the 49 -page ruling , Orrick pointed to discrepancies in the Trump administration’ s own interpretation of the executive order.

In court, the government’s lawyers suggested cities and towns were overreacting to the order because federal officials have not yet defined sanctuary cities or moved to withhold any funding from them. But on television and in news conferences, the judge pointed out , the president and Attorney General Jeff Sessions have threatened to sanction cities and towns that do not cooperate with immigration officials  leaving local officials nationwide fearful that they will lose funding for vital services.

“ The result of this schizophrenic approach to the Order is that the Counties’ worst fears are not allayed and the Counties reasonably fear enforcement under the Order , ” the judge wrote.“ The threat of the Order and the uncertainty it is causing impermissibly interferes with the Counties’ ability to operate, to provide key services, to plan for the future, and to budget.”

Trump argues that sanctuary cities put Americans at risk by refusing to hold immigrants who have been arrested or convicted of serious crimes so that Immigration and Customs Enforcement can take them into custody and deport them.

Sanctuary cities counter that they do not have the legal authority to hold any individual after a judge in a criminal case has ordered that person released.

Holding people on immigration offenses is generally a civil process, rather than a criminal one .

The ACLU and other advocacy groups said the judge's ruling offered a clear warning that Trump’ s order — the third to be blocked , at least partially, in federal court — is illegal.

“ Once again , the courts have spoken to defend tolerance , diversity and inclusion from the illegal threats of the Trump administration, ” said American Civil Liberties Union National Political Director Faiz Shakir in a statement . “ Once again , Trump has overreached and lost .”