{"id":39354,"date":"2025-02-08T12:00:03","date_gmt":"2025-02-08T20:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=39354"},"modified":"2025-02-08T12:00:10","modified_gmt":"2025-02-08T20:00:10","slug":"san-francisco-is-suing-trump-administration-for-targeting-sanctuary-cities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2025\/02\/08\/san-francisco-is-suing-trump-administration-for-targeting-sanctuary-cities\/","title":{"rendered":"San Francisco is suing Trump administration for targeting sanctuary cities"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By\u00a0Bob Egelko<\/a>, Courts Reporter Updated\u00a0Feb 7, 2025 3:15 p.m.(SFChronicle.com)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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San Francisco City Attorney David\u00a0Chiu announces a new legal action against the Trump administration regarding sanctuary cities on Friday.Benjamin Fanjoy\/Special to the Chronicle<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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San Francisco and other cities and counties nationwide announced a plan to fight back Friday against the Trump administration\u2019s attempt to require them to cooperate with federal immigration agents in mass deportations, arguing in a lawsuit that the attack on sanctuary cities violates their constitutional right to manage their own police departments and run their governments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Trump administration\u2019s actions have nothing to do with public safety because we know that sanctuary laws improve public safety,\u201d City Attorney David Chiu said in announcing the lawsuit being filed in San Francisco federal court. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDonald Trump has been violating the law and the Constitution on a daily basis,\u201d Chiu said at a news conference. He cited the president\u2019s attempt to revoke birthright citizenship for U.S.-born children of undocumented immigrants,\u00a0despite a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 1898<\/a>\u00a0that said the Constitution\u2019s 14th Amendment grants citizenship to children born in the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In line with Trump\u2019s vow to deport record numbers of unauthorized immigrants, he has ordered federal agencies to cut off funding to local governments that do not order their police to hold migrants in custody and turn them over to federal agents. Trump\u2019s Justice Department has also told federal prosecutors to file criminal charges against local officials who do not cooperate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

On Thursday, Trump\u2019s attorney general, Pam Bondi, sued Illinois, the city of Chicago and Cook County over the state\u2019s 2017 sanctuary law that prevents police from keeping immigrants in custody beyond their scheduled release date unless a judge has issued a warrant for their detention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

San Francisco\u2019s sanctuary law, in effect since 1989, similarly prohibits police from asking people they arrest about their immigration status or holding them in custody for federal agents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last week, Rep. Kevin Kiley, R-Rocklin (Placer County), introduced federal legislation that would allow local officials in sanctuary states to ignore their state law and notify federal agents about undocumented immigrants in custody. Kiley said California and 10 other states have such laws.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMany local jurisdictions across California are ready to do their part but face uncertainty because of California\u2019s so-called \u2018Sanctuary State\u2019 law,\u201d Kiley said in a statement. \u201cMy legislation makes clear that local law enforcement officials are free to communicate with federal immigration authorities, irrespective of misguided and legally dubious state laws.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chiu, however, noted Friday that Trump tried to cut off federal funding to San Francisco in his first term, but federal courts ruled in the city\u2019s favor. Federal courts also upheld California\u2019s \u201csanctuary state\u201d law, which applies to local police, sheriffs\u2019 deputies and state officers. The law does not protect immigrants who have been convicted of violent crimes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chiu said sanctuary laws encourage crime victims and witnesses to contact police without fear of being arrested and deported. Immigration law, he said, is the responsibility of the federal government, not state and local governments. And because federal officials know the name of every San Francisco jail inmate, he said, they can obtain an arrest warrant if they have legal grounds for taking an inmate into custody.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is the federal government illegally asserting a right it does not have, telling cities how to use their resources, and commandeering local law enforcement,\u201d the city attorney said. \u201cThat is illegal and authoritarian. As local officials, we have a right to do our jobs without threats and interference from the federal government.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other plaintiffs in the lawsuit include Santa Clara County; Portland, Ore.; King County, Wash., and New Haven, Conn. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe federal government can\u2019t commandeer our local governments,\u201d said Santa Clara County Counsel Tony LoPresti, who joined Chiu at the news conference. \u201cWe\u2019re litigating again, and we will prevail again.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reach Bob Egelko: begelko@sfchronicle.com<\/a>; X: @BobEgelko<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Feb 7, 2025|Updated Feb 7, 2025 3:15 p.m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

Bob Egelko<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

COURTS REPORTER<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bob Egelko has been a reporter since June 1970. He spent 30 years with the Associated Press, covering news, politics and occasionally sports in Los Angeles, San Diego and Sacramento, and legal affairs in San Francisco from 1984 onward. He worked for the San Francisco Examiner for five months in 2000, then joined The Chronicle in November 2000.His beat includes state and federal courts in California, the Supreme Court and the State Bar. He has a law degree from McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento and is a member of the bar. Coverage has included the passage of Proposition 13 in 1978, the appointment of Rose Bird to the state Supreme Court and her removal by the voters, the death penalty in California and the battles over gay rights and same-sex marriage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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By\u00a0Bob Egelko, Courts Reporter Updated\u00a0Feb 7, 2025 3:15 p.m.(SFChronicle.com) San Francisco City Attorney David\u00a0Chiu announces a new legal action against the Trump administration regarding sanctuary cities on Friday.Benjamin Fanjoy\/Special to the Chronicle San Francisco and other cities and counties nationwide announced a plan to fight back Friday against the Trump… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39354"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39354"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39354\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39356,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39354\/revisions\/39356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}