Today, United States District Judge William H. Orrick III blocked President Trump’s executive order against sanctuary cities.
Trump’s order was challenged by the city and county of San Francisco and the county of Santa Clara, California, two of the jurisdictions under presidential fire for limiting their cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, reports The Huffington Post.
“The Constitution vests the spending powers in Congress, not the President, so the Order cannot constitutionally place new conditions on federal funds,” wrote Orrick, who was nominated to the court by then-President Barack Obama. “Federal funding that bears no meaningful relationship to immigration enforcement cannot be threatened merely because a jurisdiction chooses an immigration enforcement strategy of which the President disapproves,” Orrick added.
Commenting on the judge’s decision, Assemblymember David Chiu (D-San Francisco) who is the author of two state bills that aim to protect immigrants, including those without documentation, from retaliation in their homes and from raids of their workplaces said,
“Today’s decision is another constitutional setback to the hateful anti-immigrant agenda emanating from the White House. The United States Constitution simply does allow for the kind of discriminatory and unjust policies that the current president is hellbent on pursuing. Congratulations to the legal teams from San Francisco and Santa Clara on this important victory. Sanctuary cities are safer because all residents can have the confidence that local law enforcement is not an arm of federal immigration enforcement. In an era of division and fear, California must continue to protect all of our residents.”
