Legal victory for Bay Area counties over Trump’s “Sanctuary Jurisdictions” Executive Order

Bay Area counties’ have declared victory in the legal battle over President Trump’s Sanctuary Jurisdictions Executive Order.

It’s a win for the County of Santa Clara as well as the city and County of San Francisco.

According to Santa Clara County, the federal court entered its final judgment Friday in the counties’ favor on the merits of its lawsuit against the Trump Administration, ruling the Executive Order is “unconstitutional.”

The Trump Administration is now not able to enforce a key provision of the Executive Order against the counties or anywhere in California.

The Executive Order threatened to withhold all federal funding from cities and counties that refused to assist the Trump Administration in its crackdown on immigrants.

Santa Clara County officials said their county was targeted and at risk of losing nearly $1.7 billion in federal funding, about 35% of its annual revenue at the time.

“The Administration’s action was both unlawful and unwise,” said Board President Joe Simitian. “Santa Clara County taxpayers send their tax dollars to Washington and reasonably expect those federal funds will help deliver essential public health and safety services to our County residents and others across the nation, rather than being used as a bargaining chip on federal immigration policy.”
“The County’s immigrant population and diversity only make us stronger, and we are proud to stand firm against threats to local health and safety services, even when they come from the sitting President of the United States,” said County of Santa Clara Board of Supervisors Member Dave Cortese. “Today’s final order affirms the County’s litigation strategy to hold the Trump Administration accountable for its conduct.”

“Today’s order affirms a basic principle of American constitutional law–that no President may usurp powers not given to him, and that the federal government cannot use the threat of withholding federal funding to coerce local governments into participating in federal immigration enforcement,’ said County Counsel James R. Williams. “This victory belongs to the 1.9 million residents of our County and we will continue to resist the Trump Administration’s blatantly unconstitutional conduct in this case and others.”

According to the county, as a result of the victories in this litigation, the Trump Administration has not relied on the Executive Order to threaten the withdrawal of federal funds from any other state or local government nationwide.

The county also pointed out that the decision Friday by the court dismisses without prejudice the request for an injunction outside of California, but allows the counties to renew that request for a nationwide injunction should it become necessary to do so in the future.

Read final judgment here: