By George Lehman
Boston University News Service
A federal judge ruled Friday the Trump administration cannot cut funds to Boston and over 30 other “sanctuary” cities and counties that have policies limiting local police from assisting federal immigration efforts.
U.S. District Judge William Orrick extended a preliminary injunction that prevents the administration from withholding federal funds to “sanctuary jurisdictions” and prohibits applying “immigration-related conditions” to grant programs not relating to immigration enforcement.
Orrick granted the first preliminary injunction to San Francisco and 15 other cities and counties in April this year, defending claims that an executive order directing U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to withhold federal funding from “sanctuary jurisdictions” violates constitutional rights.
“The court has made clear again that the Trump Administration’s attacks on our cities are illegal,” said Boston Mayor Michelle Wu in a statement to Boston University News Service. “Boston is the safest major city in the country and we will not bow down in the face of unconstitutional threats.”
Boston has been in the spotlight for its sanctuary policies after the Department of Justice issued letters to Wu along with 31 other mayors and governors earlier this month claiming their jurisdiction’s sanctuary policies interfere with federal immigration laws.
Those policies include Boston’s Trust Act, which bans Boston Police Department from working with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for detainment requests on the basis of immigration status, unless ICE has a criminal warrant. The city was required to submit a plan of compliance by Aug. 19, according to the DOJ’s letter.
Wu instead defended Boston’s sanctuary policies during a press conference last Tuesday, saying that Boston “will not back down” from the Trump administration’s deportation efforts. She also said Boston will file an appeal insisting that ICE produce public records after saying the agency did not provide the city with information it had requested in June.
Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons responded to Wu’s refusal to change Boston’s sanctuary policies by saying the agency will “flood the zone” during an interview on “The Howie Carr Show” on Wednesday.
“Boston and Massachusetts decided to say that they wanted to stay sanctuary,” Lyons said. “Sanctuary does not mean safer streets. It means more criminal aliens out and about the neighborhood. So 100 hundred percent you will see a larger ICE presence.”
