San Francisco sues Trump over his order pulling funds from sanctuary cities
SAN FRANCISCO -- San Francisco sued President Donald Trump on Tuesday, claiming an executive order that cuts funding from immigrant-protecting “sanctuary cities” is unconstitutional and a “severe invasion of San Francisco’s sovereignty.”
The federal government cannot “put a gun to the head of localities,” City Attorney Dennis Herrera said, arguing that the order violates states’ rights and the law.
The complaint, filed in federal district court, names Trump and his administration and claims the president is trying to coerce local authorities into abandoning sanctuary city policies, which San Francisco has adopted. “Strong cities like San Francisco must continue to push the nation forward and remind America that we are a city that fights for what is right,” Mayor Ed Lee said.
The president signed an order last week to withdraw funding from sanctuary cities that decline to cooperate with federal immigration authorities. It did not specify what kind of money could be pulled.
San Francisco receives about $1.2 billion a year in federal funding for services that include housing, health and social services and homelessness.
The suit argues the city is safer when all people, including those who are living in the country illegally, feel safe reporting crimes.
The debate over sanctuary cities reached a fevered pitch in 2015 after Kate Steinle, 32, was shot and killed on a popular boardwalk. Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, who was in the country illegally after multiple deportations to his native Mexico, was charged with murder and pleaded not guilty.
Lopez-Sanchez, who told police the gun fired by accident, had been released from a San Francisco jail despite a request from federal immigration authorities that he be held in custody for possible deportation. Trump often cited the Steinle case during the campaign.
Many other cities and counties in California and across the country also refuse to detain immigrants for deportation agents out of legal concerns. A federal court has ruled that immigrants can’t be held in jail beyond their scheduled release dates.
Since then, federal agents have been asking law enforcement agencies to provide information about immigrants they are seeking for deportation, if not hold them.