Judge Rules Against Trump Grant Conditions for ‘Sanctuary Cities’

A U.S. judge rejected the Trump administration’s attempt to put conditions on public safety grants that would require California to provide prison information to immigration officials, Reuters reports. Judge William Orrick in San Francisco found that Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ grant conditions mandating states “provide Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents access to jails and prisons, provide notice when detainees were being released and certify that information was being shared with federal authorities” were unconstitutional. He also ordered the previously denied grant money to be given to California’s so-called “sanctuary cities.” California Attorney General Xavier Becerra sued the Trump administration last year and argued that the federal government putting such conditions on $28 million in funds would “undermine law enforcement and deter police cooperation by immigrants.” Judge Orrick also stayed a nationwide injunction on the conditions, pending appeal. Cities like Chicago, Philadelphia and Los Angeles have successfully sued the Trump administration in the past over the conditions of the public funds.