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Elicker: "Trump is trying to punish those who disagree and coerce local authorities... into carrying out his agenda."
New Haven has teamed up with San Francisco and Portland to sue the Trump administration in order to protect its status as a “welcoming city” for undocumented immigrants.
The lawsuit is being led by the City of San Francisco and Santa Clara County and also includes Portland, Oregon and King County, Washington.
It challenges a day-one executive order issued by President Donald Trump that instructed the Department of Justice (DOJ) to pause and possibly cancel funds for cities that have “sanctuary” protections for immigrants.
Click here to read the lawsuit in full.
New Haven operates under a “Welcoming City” executive order that Mayor Justin Elicker signed in 2020. That order prohibits city employees from inquiring about someone’s immigration status, disclosing confidential information, or using city resources to assist in an investigation unless compelled by state or federal law. The city also does not coordinate with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents (ICE). In recent weeks, all city employees have been retrained on the order.
Any cancellation of DOJ funds could seriously hamper public safety efforts in New Haven, Elicker said at a Friday afternoon press conference at City Hall announcing the lawsuit. He said in recent years the city has received more than $6.4 million in DOJ grants, including for violence prevention programs and the COMPASS crisis response team.
The threat posed by the executive order comes as New Haven is already scrambling to deal with the threat of a federal funding freeze that could impact more than 300 employees.
“[The executive order] attempts to divert resources away from fighting crime, towards hunting down good community members that are productive and happen to be immigrants,” Elicker said. “By cutting public safety funding vital to our city’s ability to fight crime, it will make our city less safe. Let’s be clear: Through the executive order, President Trump is defunding the police.”
The Department of Justice did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit.
There is precedent for Friday’s lawsuit, which is challenging Executive Order 14159, titled “Protecting the American People Against Invasion.” In 2017, San Francisco sued the Trump administration for a very similar executive order and won, with both a federal district and appeals court ruling that Trump did not have the authority to withhold federal funding from sanctuary cities.
While New Haven was not a party to the 2017 lawsuit, it joined this effort early, which Elicker attributes to proactive conversations with a variety of city leaders who wanted to “push back” on the Trump administration.
This time, the plaintiffs are suing on the grounds that the executive order (and two associated DOJ memos) violate the Tenth Amendment, Separation of Powers, the Spending Clause, the Due Process Clause and the Administrative Procedures Act.
At the presser, Elicker said the executive order ”violates foundational constitutional principles about the extent of federal power over state and local governments.”
The mayor said he expected the lawsuit to be filed in the Northern District of California sometime Friday afternoon, and San Francisco’s lawyers will take the lead on the case, with Corporation Counsel Patricia King reviewing the filings for New Haven.