New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker said the lawsuit is meant to protect the city鈥檚 place as a sanctuary for undocumented immigrants
San Francisco and Santa Clara County are leading the lawsuit. Portland, Oregon, and King County, Washington, which includes Seattle, are also participating.
The cities oppose Trump鈥檚 executive order to cut Department of Justice funding for cities that welcome immigrants.
New Haven follows a 鈥淲elcoming City鈥� policy, which means it does not cooperate with federal immigration enforcement unless required by law.
Elicker said the city would lose over $6.4 million in DOJ funding, which would hurt public safety initiatives like violence prevention and crisis response and make the city less safe.
鈥淚t attempts to divert resources away from fighting crime towards hunting down good community members that are productive and happen to be immigrants,鈥� Elicker said. 鈥淏y cutting public safety funding vital to our city鈥檚 ability to fight crime, it will make our city less safe. Let鈥檚 be clear: through the executive order, President Trump is defunding the police.鈥�
The lawsuit follows a legal precedent from 2017 when San Francisco successfully sued the Trump administration over a similar policy.
鈥淎t this moment in time, with unprecedented attacks on our democracy in our communities, we have two choices,鈥� Elicker said. 鈥淲e can hide, or we can stand up. In New Haven, when we see injustice, we stand up to it.鈥�
The lawsuit said Trump鈥檚 executive order violates the Tenth Amendment, separation of powers, due process protections, and other policies.
