|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Palo Alto agreed on Monday to join a coalition of cities and counties in challenging a White House directive to withhold money from jurisdictions that do not cooperate with the federal government of immigration enforcement.
After a closed session discussion, the City Council agreed to join more than a dozen other jurisdictions in joining a lawsuit against the Trump Administration that is being led by Santa Clara County and San Francisco. The cities and counties are challenging a January executive order from the White House that directed the attorney general and the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security to cut off federal funding to sanctuary jurisdictions, which do not cooperate with the federal government on immigration enforcement.
The White House order also directed federal officials to “evaluate and undertake any other lawful actions, criminal or civil, that they deem warranted based on any such jurisdiction’s practices that interfere with the enforcement of Federal law.”
Palo Alto leaders have repeatedly expressed concern about recent federal actions, including White House policies that target sanctuary cities and that direct departments to plan for massive workforce reductions. Earlier this month, at the behest of Vice Mayor Vicki Veenker the council agreed to meet in a closed session to consider joining two lawsuits that are being led by Santa Clara County and San Francisco.
One responds to the directives against sanctuary cities. The other, which is being spearheaded by Santa Clara County, San Francisco and a coalition of nonprofit organizations and labor unions, seeks to invalidate executive orders that empower the newly created task-force, Department of Government Efficiency, to work with federal departments to reduce staffing levels.
On May 27, the council agreed to join one of these, which is known as City and County of San Francisco v. Trump, and which focuses on sanctuary cities. Mayor Ed Lauing said the vote was unanimous.
“This challenges the federal executive order and administrative directives that threaten to withhold federal funds and initiate enforcement actions against state and local government entities which limit local cooperation with federal immigration enforcement,” Lauing said.
“This is action taken in compliance with California Values Act,” he added, alluding to a 2017 state law that prevents state and local law enforcement agencies from spending money to help the federal government with immigration enforcement.
With its action, Palo Alto is joining a coalition that also includes the California jurisdictions of Emeryville, Monterey County, Oakland, Sacramento, San Diego, Santa Cruz and San Jose, as well as King County, Washington; Minneapolis; New Haven; Portland, Oregon; St. Paul, Minnesota; Santa Fe, New Mexico; and Seattle, Washington.
The coalition received a reprieve in federal court on April 24, when U.S. District Court Judge William Orrick issued a preliminary injunction order barring the White House temporary barring the administration from withholding money from sanctuary cities. Orrick concluded that the executive orders issued by staff violate the Constitution’s separation of powers principles and violate the Fifth Amendment, concluding that the directives are “unconstitutionally vague and violate due process.”
In a statement shortly after the court order, Santa Clara County Counsel Tony LoPresti said in a statement that ruling “puts an immediate pause on the Trump Administration’s illegal attempts to freeze federal funding simply because it disagrees with local governments’ constitutionally protected decision not to use local resources for immigration enforcement.”
“At a time when we continue to see tremendous federal overreach, the Court’s ruling affirms that local governments can serve their mission and maintain trust with the communities they care for,” LoPresti said.
