In response to the sweeping immigration orders President Donald Trump introduced last week – including threatening to withhold money from sanctuary cities refusing to cooperate with US Immigrations and Customs Enforcement – the city of San Francisco has decided to double down in their efforts to protect the undocumented community. Today, the city filed a lawsuit with the US District Court in the Northern District of California, accusing the president of infringing on their 10th Amendment rights, which grants states powers not explicitly given to the federal government. By trying to force the city to stop protecting its undocumented community, the lawsuit charges that Trump’s executive action “is a severe invasion of San Francisco’s sovereignty.”
According to The Hill, San Francisco is the first city to sue the federal government as a result of the newly introduced immigration orders. And throughout the lawsuit, officials made it clear that their loyalties lie with the undocumented population. “Like so many other cities, San Francisco is a city of immigrants, many of whom are undocumented, who come here to live, work, and raise families,” the lawsuit reads. “San Francisco is safer when all people, including undocumented immigrants, feel safe reporting crimes. San Francisco is healthier when all residents, including undocumented immigrants, access public health programs. And San Francisco is economically and socially stronger when all children, including undocumented immigrants, attend school.”
San Francisco’s actions are a far cry from how Miami-Dade County responded. Immediately after Trump signed his immigration orders, Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez bent to the president’s will and ordered county jails to cooperate with ICE. “I do not want to put Miami-Dade County as a ‘sanctuary city,’ which we have never claimed to be a sanctuary city, and put us at risk because, remember, all of those that you’re talking about is discretionary funds from the federal government,” he said, according to CBS Miami. “The government has that discretion. The federal government has the discretion to give us that money or not, and I don’t want to put us at risk of not receiving those discretionary funds.”
The move – which some have called spineless – has shown that Gimenez doesn’t stand in solidarity with immigrants. As a result, Miami New Times published a step-by-step guide to recalling a Miami-Dade County mayor.