Judge's Injunction Protects New Haven, Other Sanctuary Cities Funding

From New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker's Office:

NEW HAVEN, CT — Mayor Justin Elicker applauded the Preliminary Injunction Order issued by United States District Judge William H. Orrick preventing the Trump Administration from unlawfully withholding federal funds from the City of New Haven and other Plaintiff cities and counties unless local governments assist the federal government with its immigration enforcement responsibilities. The lawsuit, led by San Francisco and Santa Clara County, includes the City of New Haven as well as 13 other local jurisdictions. Collectively, these 16 jurisdictions are home to nearly 10 million residents.

The Preliminary Injunction Order issued by U.S. District Judge William H. Orrick preventing the Trump Administration from unlawfully withholding federal funds from New Haven and other Plaintiff cities and counties unless local governments assist the federal government with its immigration enforcement responsibilities. The lawsuit, led by San Francisco and Santa Clara County, includes the City of New Haven

The case, City and County of San Francisco, et al., v. Donald J. Trump, et al., was initially filed on February 7th in response to the Trump administration’s targeting of jurisdictions that have adopted policies that limit the use of local resources to aid federal immigration officials in carrying out civil immigration enforcement, often referred to as “sanctuary” policies. These policies focus local resources on local priorities and help ensure that all community members, regardless of immigration status, can feel safe interacting with local law enforcement without fear that local governments will cooperate with the federal government to take immigration action against them. Sanctuary and welcoming city laws and policies improve public safety and have been repeatedly upheld by federal courts.

In Elicker’s first year in office, he signed a Welcoming City executive order, affirming the city’s commitment to ensuring residents feel safe accessing public services. The order prohibits city employees from asking about or disclosing an individual’s immigration status unless required by state or federal law and prohibits city employees from assisting ICE unless required by federal law through an arrest warrant. Municipal employees were reeducated on the Welcoming City order earlier this year.

In recent years, the U.S. Department of Justice has awarded the City of New Haven approximately $6.4 million in federal grants. These funds have been used to support various violence prevention programs, improve training and equipment for police officers, and support the Elm City C.O.M.P.A.S.S. crisis response team. Funds have also been used to create the city’s real-time crime center; purchase and installation of safety cameras, license plate readers and other public safety technology; support police overtime for crime suppression; purchase safety gear for police protection as well as other public safety related initiatives.

Since taking office on January 20, Donald Trump has issued Executive Orders and taken other administrative actions to compel local jurisdictions into carrying out the President’s policy priorities. These actions include threats to withhold federal funding from localities—including critical funds that support local efforts to serve vulnerable residents, promote public safety, and prepare for emergencies—unless they assist with implementation of the Trump Administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement agenda.

The Department of Justice has also filed lawsuits against states and localities with policies that limit local assistance with federal civil immigration enforcement.

The Order Granting Preliminary Injunction prevents the federal government from enforcing the illegal Executive Orders and agency directives targeting sanctuary jurisdictions against the Plaintiffs. The Court found that the Executive Orders impose unconstitutionally ‘coercive condition[s] intended to commandeer local officials into enforcing federal immigration practices and laws,” and that they “violate the Constitution’s separation of powers principles and the Spending Clause” and “are unconstitutionally vague and violate due process.”

The hearing on the motion for preliminary injunction was held on Wednesday, April 23, and the ruling was issued earlier today, Thursday, April 24th. Judge Orrick described today’s order as a summary order and said the Court would issue an order that discusses the issues and reasoning at length at a later date.

“This is an important victory for New Haven residents and millions of other residents in cities and counties across the nation that have been unconstitutionally and illegally targeted by the Trump Administration for enacting sound, smart and humane policies that are keeping our communities safe. New Haven is a welcoming city and we’re committed to ensuring all our residents feel safe calling the police, seeking medical care, sending their children to school, and accessing critical public services. It’s not only the right policy, it’s the practical policy,” said Mayor Elicker. “We need to make sure our police department is working to fight crime and not commandeered to do the work of the federal government. We are very pleased with this ruling and that New Haven will be able to use lawfully obligated federal funds to further strengthen public safety in our city.”

Additional Background

Sanctuary and welcoming laws and policies limit the use of local resources — such as public employees’ time, money and facilities — to assist with federal civil immigration enforcement. This includes preventing the forced use of local law enforcement to question, detain or arrest individuals for civil immigration violations and limiting sharing confidential personal information with immigration authorities. As a result of sanctuary and welcoming laws and policies, crime victims and witnesses are willing to come forward and report crimes to police – and help build trust between law enforcement and communities to improve public safety.

Sanctuary and welcoming laws and policies do not protect criminals. They prioritize using local law enforcement resources to fight crime as opposed to immigration enforcement, which is the federal government’s responsibility, not the responsibility of state or local governments. Sanctuary and welcoming laws and policies also do not interfere with or impede lawful federal immigration enforcement in any way.

During the first Trump administration, San Francisco and the County of Santa Clara sued the federal government after the federal administration attempted to withhold federal funds from jurisdictions based on their sanctuary policies. In that matter and subsequent cases, federal district courts and the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals agreed with San Francisco and Santa Clara that the conditions the Trump administration attempted to place on federal funding were unconstitutional.

The current lawsuit is brought by New Haven, CT; the City and County of San Francisco, Calif.; the County of Santa Clara, Calif; Emeryville, Calif.; King County, Wash.; Monterey County, Calif.; Minneapolis, Minn.; Oakland, Calif.; Portland, Ore.; St. Paul, Minn.; Sacramento, Calif.; San Diego, Calif.; San José, Calif.; Santa Cruz, Calif.; Santa Fe, N.M.; Seattle, Wash.

The cities of New Haven, Minneapolis, Portland, St. Paul, Santa Fe and Seattle are being represented as local counsel in the case by Public Rights Project, a nonpartisan nonprofit that works with local governments to protect civil rights.

The case is City and County of San Francisco, et al., v. Donald J. Trump, et al., U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, Case No. 25-cv-01350.