The U.S. Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit against the City of Los Angeles as well as the City Council and L.A. Mayor Karen Bass over local sanctuary city policies.
The suit claims that L.A.’s sanctuary city policies are illegal under federal law while also alleging that the city’s “refusal to cooperate with federal immigration authorities” contributed to the unrest that roiled the downtown Los Angeles area for weeks earlier this month.
Some of the demonstrations turned destructive, which led to President Donald Trump ordering the National Guard and the Marines to be deployed, much to the dismay of Bass and California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
According to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, L.A.’s sanctuary city policies were “the driving cause” in the violence.
“Sanctuary policies were the driving cause of the violence, chaos and attacks on law enforcement that Americans recently witnessed in Los Angeles,” Bondi said in the complaint. “Jurisdictions like Los Angeles that flout federal law by prioritizing illegal aliens over American citizens are undermining law enforcement at every level – it ends under President Trump.”
U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli echoed Bondi’s sentiment.
“Today’s lawsuit holds the City of Los Angeles accountable for deliberately obstructing the enforcement of federal immigration law,” Essayli said. “The Constitution’s Supremacy Clause prohibits the city from picking and choosing which federal laws will be enforced and which will not. By assisting removable aliens in evading federal law enforcement, the city’s unlawful and discriminatory ordinance has contributed to a lawless and unsafe environment that this lawsuit will help end.”
Los Angeles officially declared itself a sanctuary city last November after Trump, then president-elect, vowed to use the military to carry out deportations of illegal immigrants.
In a statement, L.A. City Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez, who co-authored the sanctuary city bill, said that the suit is part of Trump’s “white nationalist agenda.”
“Trump is tearing families apart and he’s trying to force every city and town to help him carry out his white nationalist agenda,” the statement reads. “We refuse to stand by and let Donald Trump deport innocent families. We’re going to do everything within our power to keep families together.”
