Seattle To Sue Trump Over 'Sanctuary Cities' Executive Order

SEATTLE, WA - The City of Seattle will sue President Donald Trump to repeal an executive order that, in part, seeks to strip federal funding from sanctuary cities that protect undocumented immigrants.

In the suit, Seattle will argue that the federal federal government cannot goad local law enforcement by threatening to withhold money; Seattle will also argue that local law enforcement is protected from federal interference under the 10th Amendment

Mayor Ed Murray and City Attorney Pete Holmes announced the suit at a press conference Wednesday afternoon at City Hall. Murray said the suit was filed Wednesday at U.S. District Court against the Trump administration.

During the pres conference, Murray chastised Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who earlier this week said that sanctuary cities were making the country unsafe. Murray said that, on the contrary, the administration is stirring fear in immigrant communities, which leads to less safe cities.

"It's when you marginalize people and drive them away from city services and make them fearful of police and push them underground, that's when these communities becomes unsafe and the city of Seattle becomes unsafe," Murray said.

On Jan. 25, Trump signed an executive order that would strip so-called "sanctuary cities" of certain federal grants as punishment for protecting undocumented immigrants.

"Sanctuary jurisdictions across the United States willfully violate Federal law in an attempt to shield aliens from removal from the United States. These jurisdictions have caused immeasurable harm to the American people and to the very fabric of our Republic," the order reads.

According to estimates, Seattle and King County - which both offer sanctuary-like protections to immigrants - could lose over $70 million in grants. The city of Seattle alone could lose about $10.5 million, officials said Wednesday.

On Monday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions doubled-down on the Trump administration's threat to remove funding to sanctuary jurisdictions. Seattle is officially called a "welcoming city," and offers sanctuary-like protections to undocumented immigrants.

Seattle will use the large law firm Mayer Brown to pursue the lawsuit, however, Holmes said the firm will work pro bono. The attorneys Andrew Pincus and Charles Rothfeld will be assisting the city with the suit.

Many cities and counties around Puget Sound offer sanctuary city-like protections, but not many are explicitly called "sanctuary cities." Burien, for example, recently passed an ordinance offering sanctuary protections, but stopped short of calling itself a "sanctuary city."

In general, cities that offer protection direct government employees, including police, not to inquire about immigration status. Sometimes, local jails will decline to honor U.S. Department of Homeland Security "detainer requests." Those requests ask local jails to hold suspected undocumented immigrants for federal officials. Many Washington state county jails do not honor those requests because of a of a 2014 federal court case, Miranda-Olivares v. Clackamas County, which deemed that jurisdictions that hold people in jail for federal agencies without probable cause violate the 4th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

During his State of the City speech in February, Murray said that he had directed Holmes to send a batch of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to probe Trump's sanctuary cities executive order. According to documents provided to Patch.com by Holmes' office, the Trump administration has not yet provided any answers to the city's FOIA inquiries.

Image via City of Seattle