What Are Sanctuary Cities? San Francisco Judge Blocks Trump’s Attempt To Withhold Federal Funding

The Donald Trump administration’s move to tackle illegal immigrants suffered a setback after a San Francisco judge blocked the president’s order to hold back federal funding from so-called sanctuary cities — jurisdictions that restrains its cooperation with immigration officials.

On Jan. 25, Trump issued an order to stop the funding to the sanctuary cities that serve as a safe harbor to immigrants staying in the country illegally. However, lawyers representing San Francisco and Santa Clara County in California countered the president’s plan saying stopping the funding to sanctuary cities breaches jurisdictions' 10th Amendment rights. Moreover, such a move may deny these jurisdictions of billions of dollars in federal funding.

The White House slammed the court ruling calling it “egregious” and said it would continue to take action against the sanctuary cities.

"Today, the rule of law suffered another blow, as an unelected judge unilaterally rewrote immigration policy for our Nation," it said, in a statement. "This case is yet one more example of egregious overreach by a single, unelected district judge. Today’s ruling undermines faith in our legal system and raises serious questions about circuit shopping."

Trump has maintained his opposition to sanctuary cities saying these jurisdictions cause “immeasurable harm to the American people and to the very fabric of our republic."

For illegal immigrants, sanctuary cities act as a safe harbor. These include local governments and cities such as New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. According to the New York Times, at least five states have laws that refuse to cooperate with federal immigration agents. Lena Graber, a special projects lawyer at the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, told the Times last month that policies restricting cooperation with the officials are mostly at the county and state level. Furthermore, local authorities at the sanctuary cities often do not ask about a person’s immigration status.

Check out the full list of cities and counties that limit cooperation with immigration officials here.