Judge refuses to remove block on Trump
sanctuary city order
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[July 21, 2017]
By Dan Levine
(Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Thursday
refused to revisit a court order that blocks President Donald Trump's
administration from carrying out a policy designed to threaten the
granting of federal funds to so-called sanctuary cities.
U.S. District Judge William Orrick III in San Francisco ruled that a
recent memo from the Justice Department that appeared to narrow the
scope of Trump's executive order on sanctuary cities did not remove the
need for a court-ordered injunction.
Orrick wrote that the memo is not binding and the attorney general can
revoke it at any time.
A Justice Department spokeswoman could not immediately be reached for
comment.
Trump issued the order in January, shortly after he was inaugurated,
directing that funding be slashed to all jurisdictions that refuse to
comply with a statute that requires local governments to share
information with U.S. immigration authorities.
Sanctuary cities generally offer safe harbor to illegal immigrants and
often do not use municipal funds or resources to enforce federal
immigration laws. Dozens of local governments and cities, including New
York, Los Angeles and Chicago, have joined the growing "sanctuary"
movement.
The Trump administration contends that local authorities endanger public
safety when they decline to hand over for deportation illegal immigrants
arrested for crimes.
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President Donald Trump attends a "Made in America" event on
pharmaceutical glass manufacturing at the Roosevelt Room of the
White House in Washington, U.S., July 20, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos
Barria
After Trump issued the sanctuary cities executive order,
California's Santa Clara County - which includes the city of San
Jose and several smaller Silicon Valley communities - sued, saying
it was unconstitutional. San Francisco filed a similar lawsuit.
In a ruling in April, Orrick said Trump's order targeted broad
categories of federal funding for sanctuary governments and that
plaintiffs challenging the order were likely to succeed in proving
it unconstitutional.
The Justice Department asked Orrick to revisit that ruling, after
Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued a memo which said the only
funds the government intended to withhold were certain grants tied
to law enforcement programs.
Orrick voiced skepticism at a hearing earlier this month.
(Reporting by Dan Levine; Editing by Leslie Adler)
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