Federal Judge Blocks Trump’s Efforts to Defund ‘Sanctuary’ Cities

A federal judge has blocked a push by President Donald Trump to federally defund cities that have adopted so-called sanctuary policies for illegal immigrants. In an April 24 order granting a preliminary injunction, federal Judge William H. Orrick of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, sided with the plaintiffs: San Francisco, Santa Clara, and 14 other cities that would be affected by executive orders to strip federal taxpayer funding from them. “The challenged sections … to withhold, freeze, or condition federal funding apportioned to localities by Congress, violate the Constitution’s separation of powers principles and the Spending Clause … [and] the Fifth Amendment to the extent they are unconstitutionally vague and violate due process,” Orrick wrote....