Judge blocks Trump order to cut funding to sanctuary cities

A federal judge in California ruled against President Trump’s executive order against sanctuary cities late Monday, saying the White House’s proposal to stop all federal grant money flowing to jurisdictions that refuse to cooperate with deportation officers is unconstitutional.

The ruling is the latest blow to the president’s immigration policies, which federal courts have increasingly taken an active role in constraining.

In this case, Judge William H. Orrick, a Democratic appointee to the bench, said Mr. Trump’s broad declaration of war against sanctuary cities, encapsulated in one of his first executive orders, goes well beyond the president’s powers.

In that order, Mr. Trump urged his administration to find ways to deny federal money to cities, counties and states that refused to provide information on illegal immigrants to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Judge Orrick said those are decisions for Congress, not the president.

“The Constitution vests the spending powers in Congress, not the president, so the executive order cannot constitutionally place new conditions on federal funds,” he wrote.

He also threw Mr. Trump’s own words back at him, saying the president called the executive order “a weapon” against cities that tried to thwart his immigration policies and bragged about signing the executive order, saying he was going to force sanctuary cities to change.

The Justice Department had tried to argue that it didn’t intend to go after all federal funding, saying it only wanted to comply with existing federal law that makes a few Justice Department grant programs contingent on information-sharing with respect to immigrants.

But Judge Orrick said Mr. Trump’s executive order is far broader than the existing law, and the Justice Department’s guidance cannot fix what Mr. Trump did.

Justice Department spokesman Devin O’Malley said the judge got it wrong and was intruding on Mr. Trump’s own powers.

“The district court exceeded its authority today when it barred the president from instructing his cabinet members to enforce existing law,” Mr. O’Malley said in a statement. “The Justice Department will vindicate the president’s lawful authority to direct the executive branch.”

Judge Orrick’s ruling came in lawsuits filed by San Francisco and Santa Clara County, both of which said they stood to lose federal grant money under Mr. Trump’s policy.

Santa Clara says it will only hold illegal immigrants if the federal government agrees to pay for their detention. San Francisco, meanwhile, often refuses to even let federal officials know if a deportation target is being released.

That policy ended in tragedy in 2015 when an illegal immigrant released by San Francisco went on to kill Kate Steinle, authorities say. The trial for that illegal immigrant suspect is currently ongoing.

Judge Orrick is still considering another case challenging the government’s efforts to strip funding for the three grant programs under Section 1373 of the Title 8 of the U.S. Code, which deals with immigration. That section does require information-sharing.

A federal judge in Philadelphia ruled last week that that city’s policies don’t violate Section 1373, upholding the city’s challenge to the Justice Department.

A judge in Chicago is hearing a case about that city’s policies as well.