CHICAGO — From defiant lawsuits to reversing policies, U.S. cities and counties are zeroing in on their immigration rules to avoid losing millions in public safety dollars that the White House has threatened to withhold amid a high-stakes clash over sanctuary policies.
President Donald Trump has made it a top priority to revoke federal dollars from so-called sanctuary cities, broadly defined as places that limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities. Trump says he believes such cities and counties are providing a haven for criminal activity.
Amid an executive order and almost weekly threats by the administration, cities and counties are fighting back.
At least seven cities and counties are suing, and California became the first state to join the legal fray on Monday. Leaders in Baltimore and the Las Vegas area have been trying to prove to the federal government that they don’t have sanctuary policies so they can qualify for public safety help. Some local governments have sought to comply with the administration’s edicts.
The result for cities and counties: growing confusion, budgeting headaches, worries about increased crime and more tension with immigrant residents. And experts expect more lawsuits and turmoil at the local level.
“They’re not getting clarity,” said Yucel Ors, a program director for public safety at the National League of Cities. “When you’re planning budgets or there’s an expectation for grants and applications, it becomes very difficult to properly judge what your resource is going to be, especially with law enforcement.”
Sanctuary policies have existed for decades. There’s no single definition, but generally local officials enact policies friendly to people living in the U.S. without legal permission, including limiting cooperation with agents in local jails and prohibiting police from asking about immigration status during traffic stops.
Some locales have already changed their immigration policies to comply. Others are considering the same.
But the more common tactic among sanctuary cities has been to push back.
Several lawsuits have cited constitutional concerns in Trump’s executive order, including three in California filed by Santa Clara County, San Francisco and the city of Richmond. Two of those lawsuits prompted a temporary injunction.
Other lawsuits were filed by Seattle and two Boston-area cities. On Monday, the state of California sued over Trump’s sanctuary city restrictions on public safety grants.
