2nd LD: Judge blocks part of U.S. president's order on sanctuary cities

A federal judge ruled Tuesday against part of an executive order of U.S. President Donald Trump.

The 49-page temporary ruling by Judge William Orrick III of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, said Trump cannot coerce "sanctuary cities" to cooperate with immigration officers by withdrawing federal funds.

It followed a 70-minute court hearing on April 14 over San Francisco and Santa Clara County's lawsuits over the executive order signed by Trump on Jan. 25, which 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 executive order, issued five days after the president took office, was the third of the kind blocked by different judges in the U.S. federal court system.

Previously, Trump's executive orders limiting the entry into the United States by citizens of some Muslim-majority countries were subject to similar injunction.

Trump, who would be in the White House for 100 days on Saturday, so far has signed 26 executive orders.

Alleging that sanctuary cities allow dangerous criminals among illegal immigrants back on the street, Trump promised on his campaign trail that there would be no more federal funding for sanctuary cities.

The lawsuits on Jan. 31 by city and county of San Francisco and on Feb. 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."

On March 27, U.S. Attorney-General Jeff Sessions said the administration could seek to take back some funds already granted to the cities.

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 processes 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.

The policies, these cities argue, are designed to preserve trust between their residents and local police force, and to promote public safety by encouraging illegal immigrants to contact officers and report crimes without fear of deportation.

If Section 9 of the executive order was enforced, according to the lawsuits, 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; for San Francisco, 2 billion dollars a year would be at risk.

"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 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 suits before Judge Orrick.

With the preliminary injunction, effective nationwide in the United States, Section 9 of the executive order will not go into effect until the court rules on the suits. Endi