San Francisco, Santa Clara County win final ruling against Trump's threat against sanctuary counties

FILE ART - Sanctuary city protest

Santa Clara County and San Francisco won a final victory in a lawsuit Friday challenging President Donald Trump's threat to withhold federal funding for sanctuary cities and counties. 

Trump issued the executive order on Jan. 25, 2017, shortly after being inaugurated. Santa Clara County stood to lose $1.7 billion in federal funding due to its sanctuary county laws, which protect undocumented immigrants from raids by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and restrict law enforcement cooperation with federal agencies. 

The San Francisco federal court granted Santa Clara County and San Francisco a preliminary injunction in April 2017 protecting both regions from the order, which was later upheld by an appeals court in August 2018.
       
On Friday, the court issued a final ruling creating permanent protections for the sanctuary counties. 

"Santa Clara County taxpayers send their tax dollars to Washington and reasonably expect those federal funds will help deliver essential public health and safety services to our County residents and others across the nation, rather than being used as a bargaining chip on federal immigration policy," ​​​Santa Clara County Board President Joe Simitian said in a statement.