Trump Can’t Escape Sanctuary City Funding Fight, Judge Says (1)

The Trump administration failed to escape a legal challenge to its attempt to defund local governments with “sanctuary city” policies that limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities.

Judge William H. Orrick of the US District Court for the Northern District of California said Tuesday the government couldn’t get dismissed a revised complaint from San Francisco and dozens of other sanctuary jurisdictions claiming the threatened crackdown is unconstitutional.

The court said the jurisdictions’ claims were “well-supported” in the complaint, adding that the government’s attack on the plaintiffs’ standing amounted only to arguments he had previously rejected.

“My mind is unchanged,” Orrick wrote in his order. “Defendants have not provided any new arguments showing” that the cities’ amended complaint should lose on standing.

The judge also maintained his previous position that the cities had made a sufficient showing that the attempt to condition grant funds on immigration enforcement violates a number of constitutional principles, including separation of powers, and the Administrative Procedure Act.

Orrick in August extended an injunction he had granted months prior that blocks the federal government from rescinding the fund to include the dozens of cities that had been added to the suit, including Denver, Boston, Los Angeles, and Chicago.

Tuesday’s ruling comes a week after Orrick paused the case until the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit rules on his injunction order. At oral arguments in December, a panel of Ninth Circuit judges appeared divided over the scope of Orrick’s injunction, with two of the three judges expressing skepticism of Orrick’s order.

The case is nearly identical to San Francisco’s successful 2017 lawsuit against the first Trump administration over sanctuary city defunding. In that case, which was also heard by Orrick, the Ninth Circuit upheld a judgment against the administration.

The case is City and Cnty. of San Francisco v. Trump, N.D. Cal., No. 3:25-cv-01350, 1/20/26.