Trump officials threatened legal action against the 18 cities on the list, including Berkeley and San Francisco.
by Nico Savidge and Esther Kaplan Aug. 6, 2025 (Oaklandside.com)
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On Tuesday, the Trump administration posted a new list of “sanctuary jurisdictions” that may face legal action by the Trump administration.
The administration had unveiled an initial list last May of more than 500 state and local governments, including Oakland and Alameda County, that it claimed were obstructing immigration enforcement. That typo-riddled list was soon removed from the Department of Homeland Security’s website after critics pointed out it included several pro-Trump local governments that had not adopted sanctuary policies, but a version was preserved by the Internet Archive.
In the new, shorter version, Oakland and Alameda County are missing.
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The list was part of the administration’s efforts to target communities, states and jurisdictions that it says aren’t doing enough to help its immigration enforcement agenda and the promises the president made to deport more than 11 million people living in the U.S. without legal authorization.
The new announcement doesn’t appear to threaten consequences beyond what the federal government is already doing.
The shortened list of 35 jurisdictions that was announced Tuesday includes 12 states, the District of Columbia and four counties. California is one of the states, along with several California cities and counties: Berkeley, the city and county of San Francisco, San Diego County, and the city of Los Angeles. The list is composed overwhelmingly of Democratic jurisdictions.
In a news release announcing the list, Attorney General Pamela Bondi wrote, “The Department of Justice will continue bringing litigation against sanctuary jurisdictions and work closely with the Department of Homeland Security to eradicate these harmful policies around the country.”
Berkeley Mayor Adena Ishii fired back in her own statement Tuesday, writing that the federal government — not sanctuary cities — is responsible for “causing harm and trauma in our communities.”
“Berkeley continues to take pride in our status as a sanctuary city and we won’t be bullied into abandoning our values,” Ishii wrote. “We are not backing down. Berkeley is committed to remaining a safe space for all who live, work, and visit here.”
The City Council unanimously approved a resolution “reaffirming Berkeley as a sanctuary city” in January, a day after Trump was sworn in for his second term. And Ishii said a Sanctuary City Task Force convened during the first Trump administration meets regularly “to protect our immigrant community through information sharing and coordinated response as needed.”
There is no official definition for sanctuary policies or sanctuary cities. The terms generally describe limited local cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Oakland first declared itself a “refuge” for immigrants in 1986 and adopted its official sanctuary city ordinance in 2019. Alameda County has called itself a “welcoming community.”
The Trump administration has already sued several local governments on the list over their sanctuary policies, including those in New York, Los Angeles and Denver, as well as four cities in New Jersey that prohibit local police from cooperating with immigration authorities.
A number of Bay Area cities — not only Oakland, but also Richmond, El Cerrito, Albany and Emeryville — were also named in the administration’s longer list, but left off of the one released Tuesday. Department of Justice officials said the list “is not exhaustive and will be updated as federal authorities gather further information.”
The Associated Press contributed reporting to this story.
NICO SAVIDGE
Nico Savidge joined Berkeleyside in 2021 as a senior reporter covering city hall. Born and raised in Berkeley, he got his start in journalism at Youth Radio as a high-schooler in the mid-2000s. Since then, he has covered transportation, law enforcement, education and college sports for the San Jose Mercury News, EdSource, the Wisconsin State Journal, The Janesville Gazette and The Daily Cardinal. A graduate of Berkeley High School and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, he now lives in Oakland with his wife and dog.More by Nico Savidge
