1st LD: Judge blocks part of U.S. president's order on sanctuary cities

A federal judge ruled Tuesday that U.S. President Donald Trump can not coerce "sanctuary cities" to cooperate with immigration officers by withdrawing federal funds.

The 49-page temporary ruling by Judge William Orrick, of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, followed a 70-minute hearing on April 14 over San Francisco and Santa Clara county's lawsuit over the executive order signed by Trump on January 25.

The executive order, issued five days after the president took office, directed the administration's attorney general and homeland security secretary to make sure that sanctuary jurisdictions " are not eligible to receive federal grants, except as deemed necessary for law enforcement purposes."

The lawsuit on January 31 by city and county of San Francisco and on February 3 by county of Santa Clara before the federal court requested for an injunction to halt the enforcement of the order.

"Although the defunding provision has not yet been enforced against any jurisdiction," wrote Judge Orrick. "governmental leaders have made numerous statements reaffirming the government's intent to enforce the order and to use the threat of withholding federal funds as a tool to coerce states and local jurisdictions to change their policies."

Notifying that "an injunction against the president is not appropriate," the judge, who is based in San Francisco, a sanctuary city in Northern California, ruled that "the president has no role in implementing Section 9," which stipulated defunding sanctuary cities.

Sanctuary city policies, either mandated by local legislation process or observed in practice, limit these cities' cooperation with the federal government in order to help people who are in the country illegally avoid deportation, so that such residents will be more willing to report crimes, use health and social services, and enroll their children in school.

If Section 9 of the executive order was enforced, according to the lawsuit, at stake for Santa Clara county would be 1.7 billion U.S. dollars in federal and federally dependent funds, which made up roughly 35 percent of the county's total revenues in the 2015-2016 fiscal year.

"We're fighting for the United States Constitution and we succeeded after the Trump Administration tried to do an end run around it," Santa Clara County Supervisor Cindy Chavez said in a statement after the judge's ruling. "The court's decision is a win for the neediest people in our nation. Seniors in need of food, foster youth in need of shelter and children who need medical care. We'll continue being a welcoming, safe and diverse community."

More than 300 cities and counties in the United States now have limited the cooperation their law enforcement agencies are allowed to work with federal immigration officials seeking to detain and deport immigrants.

Among them, nearly 50 local governments filed arguments supporting the suit decided by Judge Orrick. Endit