SF, Santa Clara Cos. Beat Trump On Legal Sanctuary Battle

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — Santa Clara County and the city and county of San Francisco secured a final victory Friday in their legal battle challenging U.S. President Donald Trump's "Sanctuary Jurisdictions” Executive Order, the local South Bay government announced.

The U.S. District Court in San Francisco, which presided over the case, entered final judgment in the counties’ favor on the merits of its lawsuit and permanently barred the Trump Administration from enforcing a key provision of the order against the counties or anywhere in California.

The executive order at issue threatened to withhold all federal funding from those cities and counties such as Santa Clara and San Francisco, which refused to assist the Administration in its relentless attack on immigrants, county officials said. The Trump Administration targeted the county and placed the local government at risk of being deprived of nearly $1.7 billion in federal funds. That's about 35 percent of its annual revenue.

Friday's final order makes permanent the county’s historic legal victory in the case and ensures that critical county services will not be jeopardized.

"The Administration’s action was both unlawful and unwise," county Board of Supervisors President Joe Simitian said. "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."

Simitian was joined by fellow supervisors in the sentiment.

"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," Supervisor Dave Cortese said. "Today’s final order affirms the county’s litigation strategy to hold the Trump Administration accountable for its conduct."

No stranger to the courtroom challenging the feds, County Counsel James R. Williams also weighed in on the victory.

"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," Williams said. "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."

The Executive Order regarding sanctuary jurisdictions was issued by President Trump days after taking office on Jan. 25, 2017. It commands federal officials to designate certain state and local governments as “sanctuary jurisdictions,” thus denying them federal funding

The counties were the first jurisdictions to seek emergency relief from the order. On April 25, 2017, the counties secured a historic victory when the federal district court presiding over the lawsuit granted a preliminary injunction and halted implementation of the order nationwide pending resolution of the lawsuit.

In November 2017, the same court issued an injunction permanently blocking implementation of the executive order’s key provision. On Aug. 1, 2018, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the district court’s ruling that the executive order violates the Constitution, agreed the permanent injunction against its implementation should be statewide.

The long history of the case is listed with the county.