“Sessions threatens sanctuary cities, slanders immigrants as ‘dangerous criminals, ‘ Wiener tweeted“.

On Monday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions doubled-down on the Trump administration’s threat to remove funding to sanctuary jurisdictions. Several mayors and prosecutors across the country have reported in recent months that undocumented immigrants are increasingly avoiding law enforcement, refusing to report crimes or testify in court cases out of fear they’ll be targeted for deportation.

“The Order is premised on a misreading of federal statutory law and departs dramatically from settled constitutional principles”, the lawsuit, filed by Seattle Mayor Ed Murray and City Attorney Pete Holmes, states.

“Apparently the Trump administration, their war on facts has now become a war on cities”, Murray said during a news conference. “And let me be clear about the president’s executive order: It is violating the law”.

The threats to funding come as the Trump administration unrolls a new office within the Homeland Security Department focusing on American victims of immigrant crime.

“Sanctuary policies are an exercise of basic state and local powers to regulate for the health, safety and welfare of their residents”, they wrote, and the Supreme Court has already held that the Tenth Amendment “prevent [s] the federal government from “commandeering” state and local governments by requiring them to enforce federal mandates”. Even if they wanted to, he said, “ironically, we would face civil liability”.

Democrats in California angered by the Trump administration’s crack down on sanctuary cities are vowing to fight back.

There is a question about whether the federal government could withhold a wide array of federal funds from cities over their sanctuary status and still survive a legal challenge.

His comments were in line with an executive order issued by President Donald Trump in January that threatened to cut off federal funding to sanctuary cities.

“This administration has created an atmosphere of anxiety in cities across America and has created chaos in our politics”, Murray said.

Seattle will use the large law firm Mayer Brown to pursue the lawsuit, however, Holmes said the firm will work pro bono. It also showed that 206 out of 3,083 detention requests were declined by local law enforcement across the country.

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.

“We should not allow our local police to be used as a federal militia and that is exactly what they are doing”, she said. That could mean real financial pain for the Bay Area: Oakland, for instance, is getting more than $130 million in ongoing and one-time grants from Uncle Sam in its current fiscal year. “It is unconstitutional”, Murray said.