Overview

• Filed June 30 in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, the lawsuit targets Los Angeles, Mayor Karen Bass and the City Council over a November ordinance that bars city resources from aiding federal immigration enforcement.
• The Justice Department contends the law discriminates against federal agents by restricting ICE’s access to detainees, information and city property in violation of the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause.
• DOJ documents allege that noncooperation helped fuel June anti-ICE protests, looting and vandalism, prompting deployment of the California National Guard and U.S. Marines.
• This suit is the fourth in a coordinated campaign challenging sanctuary policies, following similar lawsuits against jurisdictions in Chicago, New York, New Jersey, Illinois and Colorado.
• Mayor Bass denounced the lawsuit as an attempt to overturn the city’s will, while Governor Gavin Newsom pledged state support for Los Angeles’s defense of its sanctuary ordinance.