US Federal Judge rules against Trump’s order
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WASHINGTON: A federal judge in the state of California ruled as unconstitutional the executive order by President Trump to block funding to cities which refused to cooperate with federal agents’ actions against immigrants.
The order by Judge William H. Orrick will permanently block the implementation of Trump’s order to withhold funding from the so-called sanctuary cities, a term used for those which do not cooperate with federal immigrant officials. An earlier order by a court had put a temporary halt on the order in April.
The judge ruled that the order to block funding to cities which refuse to help nab undocumented immigrants was against the separation of power doctrines as well as the Fifth and Tenth amendment of the Constitution, the Washington Post reported.
“Federal funding that bears no meaningful relationship to immigration enforcement cannot be threatened merely because a jurisdiction chooses an immigration enforcement strategy of which the President disapproves,” the order said, and observed that the authority to do so lies in Congress and not the executive branch of the government.
The order is the latest in legal blows to the Trump administration against anti-immigration efforts that have partially blocked the travel ban that disallowed citizens from eight countries, including six Muslim-majority nations to travel to the United States. Many rulings are now laying with federal appeals courts.
President Trump had promised various measures during his election campaign against an estimated 11 million illegal immigrants.
In January, the Justice Department issued the order, days after Trump’s inauguration, to withhold funds from cities that chose not to cooperate with federal efforts to deport undocumented immigrants.
The Judge in his ruling cited statements by President Trump and the Attorney General against the intended move against the sanctuaries cities. He cited a statement by President Trump who had said that the executive order was a “weapon” against cities what did not agree with his preferred immigration enforcement.
President Trump says that the by refusing to cooperate to arrest immigrants convicted of serious crimes were putting American cities at risk.An official of the Californian city of San Francisco which had challenged the executive order against the sanctuary cities said that the city fully complies with federal immigration enforcement.
“The federal government has always been free to enforce immigration law in San Francisco, just like it can anywhere else in the country,” the official said in a statement.
