Judge Bars Trump From Withholding Funds From 34 Sanctuary Jurisdictions

A federal judge on Friday barred the Trump administration from withholding or conditioning federal funds for 34 so-called sanctuary jurisdictions, including Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston and Denver, because of their limits on cooperation with federal immigration authorities. U.S. District Judge William Orrick in San Francisco extended and broadened a preliminary nationwide injunction he first issued in 2024, concluding that the president lacks unilateral authority to tie congressionally appropriated money to immigration enforcement demands. The ruling responds to lawsuits filed by cities and counties that argued two Trump executive orders—directing Attorney General Pam Bondi and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to cut funding to non-compliant governments—violated the separation of powers and threatened billions of dollars in public-safety and social-service grants. Orrick said the administration had shown no evidence that the targeted jurisdictions were violating federal law. Friday’s decision is the latest in a series of legal setbacks for the administration’s effort to pressure sanctuary communities. The Justice Department has separately sued New York, Los Angeles and others, while the Department of Homeland Security briefly published, then retracted, a list of more than 500 jurisdictions it deemed non-compliant. The White House did not immediately respond to the ruling.