A federal judge in California ordered the Trump administration to halt any efforts to withhold funds from cities and counties deemed so-called sanctuary jurisdictions for refusing to cooperate with U.S. immigration officials.
Judge William H. Orrick of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California barred the U.S. government on Thursday from “directly or indirectly taking any action to withhold, freeze, or condition federal funds” to San Francisco city and county, Santa Clara and 14 other cities and counties around the country that are part of the legal challenge to the policy.
Orrick, an Obama appointee, issued an order granting a preliminary injunction against a portion of President Donald Trump’s executive order that declared the influx of migrants who came across the U.S.-Mexico border an “invasion,” which included a provision threatening to cut off federal funds for jurisdictions if they don’t cooperate with federal immigration officials.
