The Trump administration sued Los Angeles, its mayor and other top city officials Monday, claiming its sanctuary policy toward illegal migrants discriminates against federal law enforcement.
The suit names embattled Mayor Karen Bass and the entire LA City Council — including its president, Marqueece Harris-Dawson, as defendants — claiming the city’s code thwarts immigration authorities from enforcing federal law.
“Sanctuary City laws and policies are designed to deliberately impede federal immigration officers’ ability to carry out their responsibilities in those jurisdictions,” the lawsuit reads in part.
“The Los Angeles Ordinance and other policies intentionally discriminate against the Federal Government by treating federal immigration authorities differently.”
US Attorney General Pam Bondi blasted Tinseltown officials in a statement.
“Sanctuary policies were the driving cause of the violence, chaos, and attacks on law enforcement that Americans recently witnessed in Los Angeles,” she said.
“Jurisdictions like Los Angeles that flout federal law by prioritizing illegal aliens over American citizens are undermining law enforcement at every level — it ends under President Trump.”
The suit follows violent anti-ICE protests across downtown Los Angeles earlier this month, in which rioters attacked immigration authorities, burned cars in the streets, and vandalized and looted local businesses.
The riots were sparked after immigration agents hit a Home Depot in the Hispanic-majority city of Paramount June 7. Trump later called in around 4,000 National Guard members and around 700 active-duty Marines to tamp down the violence.
Officials estimated the cost of the riots to LA taxpayers will exceed $30 million.
The lawsuit outlines three claims for relief, citing violations of the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause.
These counts argue that LA’s sanctuary city ordinance unlawfully attempts to regulate the federal government by singling out immigration officials for unfavorable and uncooperative treatment while prohibiting local law enforcement agencies from complying with valid civil warrants.
They also allege that the city discriminates against the federal government by “picking and choosing which federal criminal laws it will follow.”
The suit is asking the court to declare LA’s sanctuary city ordinance unlawful and unenforceable, and prohibit Bass and Harris-Dawson — as well as any of their successors or employees — from enforcing it.
