SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — The White House says it will pull all federal funds from states or cities that limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities, potentially affecting California and San Diego.
The administration plans to direct the attorney general and secretary of homeland security to publish a list of state and local jurisdictions that obstruct the enforcement of federal immigration laws.
California state law prohibits local law enforcement from releasing information to the federal government unless an undocumented immigrant in custody is convicted of a serious crime.
The Trump administration says it will take legal action to enforce compliance, emphasizing that the federal government is the sole authority when it comes to immigration enforcement.
"The United States has federal law. We have state law. Those sometimes clash. Immigration is one of them," said immigration attorney Jacob Sapochnick.
Sapochnick says the back-and-forth between local and federal jurisdictions on this issue has been confusing. He believes immigration is a federal issue and should only be enforced by federal authorities.
When asked if the president has the ability to take away funding from sanctuary jurisdictions, Sapochnick responded: "He can try. You're going to see massive litigation, temporary injunction, going back as far as the Supreme Court."
He says this executive order would attempt to change the norms around immigration enforcement.
Several local jurisdictions have already taken positions on this issue. The County Board of Supervisors passed a resolution in Dec. 2024 taking, state law a step further and calling on the Sheriff's Office to end any cooperation with federal authorities.
Sheriff Kelly Martinez told ABC 10Newsshe wouldn't do this.
"We follow state law. All of those things were in place long before this administration, and we follow that," Martinez said.
In February, the city of El Cajon passed a resolution declaring it would follow both state and federal laws.
"There's going to be a lot of internal backlash within the state. The different jurisdictions that don't comply with the state and they comply with the federal government. And there's going to be backlash from the federal government to try to force local authorities to do that," said Sapochnick.
The long-term effects of these sweeping executive orders and how they could be interpreted are still uncertain.
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