President Trump’s attorney general, Pam Bondi, is suing the city of Los Angeles to try to stop it from enforcing its sanctuary city policies, which the federal government says discriminate against immigration officers. 

In a lawsuit filed in a federal court in California, the Department of Justice says that the “express purpose” of Los Angeles’s sanctuary city law is “to thwart” immigration officials from “carrying out their statutory obligations as directed by Congress.”

The suit says America is “facing a crisis of illegal immigration” and that the administration’s efforts to “address that crisis are hindered by sanctuary cities such as the City of Los Angeles, which refuses to cooperate or share information, even when requested, with federal immigration authorities.”

The city council passed a resolution in 2019 that declared Los Angeles a sanctuary city. The vote at the time was seen as more symbolic than practical, as the Los Angeles Police Department since the 1970s has followed what is known as Special Order 40, which prevents law enforcement officers from detaining a person solely because of immigration status. The city’s jails also decline to honor retainer requests from Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials unless they are issued by a judge.  

In November 2024, the city council passed another ordinance prohibiting local law enforcement from assisting federal immigration officials with deportation efforts, except for when the migrant being sought has previously been deported for aggravated felonies. 

The Department of Justice’s lawsuit says such policies violate the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution because they “discriminate” against federal immigration officers. 

“Sanctuary City laws and policies are designed to deliberately impede federal immigration officers’ ability to carry out their responsibility in those jurisdictions,” the complaint reads. “The Los Angeles Ordinance and other policies intentionally discriminate against the Federal Government by treating federal immigration authorities differently than other law enforcement agents.”

It argues the “practical upshot” of the city’s sanctuary policies has been “lawlessness, rioting, looting, and vandalism.”

The Justice Department says, “The Supremacy Clause prohibits the City of Los Angeles and its officials from singling out the federal government for adverse treatment…Accordingly, the law and policies challenged here are invalid and should be enjoined.”

In a statement to Fox News, Ms. Bondi said, “Sanctuary policies were the driving cause of the violence, chaos, and attacks on law enforcement that Americans recently witnessed in Los Angeles. 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 DOJ’s lawsuit comes as a Los Angeles Times report notes that city officials have been considering filing a lawsuit against the Trump administration over its deportation operations. The Times reports that the city council is scheduled to meet Tuesday to consider “immediate legal action” to prevent “residents from being racially profiled or unlawfully searched or detained.”

Since the beginning of June, immigration officials have arrested more than 1,600 immigrants in Southern California. The arrests led to clashes between law enforcement and anti-ICE protesters. In response, Mr. Trump deployed the National Guard and 700 Marines to protect federal property and personnel.