The Trump administration has filed a lawsuit against the city of Rochester, New York, claiming its sanctuary policies have violated the Constitution and federal law.
Multiple policies enacted by the city government are claimed to have explicitly prevented cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.
The lawsuit alleges that the city has violated the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution, which binds states to federal law. The lawsuit highlights a resolution of the city council and two policies from the local police department that restrict cooperation, including the sharing of information, with federal authorities.
Those policies, according to the lawsuit, “violate the Supremacy Clause, interfere with federal law, and create obstacles to the enforcement of federal immigration law.” They are also in violation of federal law preventing restrictions on sharing information about individuals’ immigration status.
The city has responded to the lawsuit by calling it an “exercise in political theater, not legal practice.”
In March, Rochester Mayor Malik Adams said at a press conference that immigration enforcement is a federal function and local authorities do not have to provide assistance.
On the same day as the lawsuit was filed, a federal judge issued a preliminary block on the Trump administration cutting funding for sanctuary jurisdictions.
One of Trump’s first executive orders on his inauguration day directed the Secretary of Homeland Security to “evaluate and undertake any lawful actions to ensure that so-called ’sanctuary’ jurisdictions … do not receive access to Federal funds.”
District Judge William Orrick said that Trump’s order violated the separation of powers and the Spending Clause, which allows Congress to raise tax and spend revenue.
He also cited the Tenth Amendment and said a freeze on federal funding was a “coercive condition intended to commandeer local officials into enforcing federal immigration practices and law.”
