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Trump Can’t Cut Police Grants to SF, Court Rules

“Sanctuary City” Supreme Court battle looming after Ninth Circuit rules attempt to deny federal funding to SF is unconstitutional.
By - posted 7/14/2020 No Comment

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Monday that San Francisco’s sanctuary ordinance is lawful and concluded that the Trump administration’s attempt to deny federal funding to the City is unconstitutional.

Mayor London Breed released a statement and tweeted that the “Trump administration’s attempt to overreach and bully San Francisco into abandoning our values and complying with unfair, unjust immigration enforcement laws is unconstitutional.”

The Trump administration was attempting to without grants to police in “sanctuary” cities which didn’t cooperate with federal agencies trying to enforce immigration laws.

Read More: SF Mayor Press Release | Bloomberg Law 

The Mayor also stated that, Our sanctuary ordinance makes our entire city safer. Our residents should not live in fear of calling the police to report crimes or working with law enforcement to strengthen our communities. This is an important victory for our city and our immigrant communities. 

“There is no law requiring state or local governments to participate in immigration enforcement. Immigration enforcement is the responsibility of the federal government alone. Federal officials can do their job in San Francisco and anywhere else in the country. San Francisco is not stopping them. San Francisco is not impeding them.

But our police, firefighters and nurses are not going to be commandeered and turned into the Trump administration’s deportation force. Communities are safer when residents aren’t afraid to take their children to the doctor, call the fire department in an emergency, or go to the police if they’ve been the victim of a crime.” – San Francisco City Attorney, Dennis Herrera

This isn’t the end of the story, prepare for likely legal challenges. According to Bloomberg there are conflicting appellate decision which makes it likely that the Supreme Court will take up the case at some point in the future.