Politics

Trump Threatens to Defy Court Ruling, Yank Funding From Chicago Over Immigrant Protections

President Donald Trump threatened Tuesday to defy a federal court ruling and yank funding from Chicago and 33 other cities and counties because they have laws designed to protect undocumented immigrants by prohibiting state and local law enforcement officials from helping federal agents.

“Starting Feb. 1, we’re not making any payments to sanctuary cities or states having sanctuary cities because they do everything possible to protect criminals at the expense of American citizens,” Trump said during a speech to the Detroit Economic Forum. “It breeds fraud and crime and all of the other problems that come, so we’re not making any payments to anyone who supports sanctuary cities.”

U.S. District Judge William Orrick issued an injunction Aug. 22 that prevents the Trump administration from blocking funding for some of the nation’s largest cities, including Chicago, Los Angeles, Denver, Boston and Baltimore.

Orrick ruled that the cities and counties were likely to prevail in the lawsuit that claimed the Trump administration was unlawfully trying to force local officials to help federal immigration agents conduct deportation efforts.

The Trump administration has appealed the injunction issued by Orrick to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

“The cities and counties have also demonstrated a likelihood of irreparable harm,” Orrick wrote in the initial injunction. “The threat to withhold funding causes them irreparable injury in the form of budgetary uncertainty, deprivation of constitutional rights, and undermining trust between the cities and counties and the communities they serve.”

Orrick specifically blocked the Trump administration from withholding Community Development Block Grants, which fund a wide range of efforts including programs to boost economic development, according to city records.

Orrick also blocked the Trump administration from canceling grants to the cities and counties awarded through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development through the Continuum of Care program, which is designed to reduce homelessness.

Mayor Brandon Johnson called the latest threat from the president “blatantly unconstitutional and immoral.”

“Chicago will never back down from a fight,” Johnson said in a statement. “To the president, our message is simple: we’ll see you in court.”

The Trump administration has also appealed a ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Lindsay Jenkins dismissing a lawsuit filed by the Trump administration that sought to invalidate Chicago’s Welcoming City ordinance and the Illinois Trust Act. The lawsuit called the ordinance and act “an intentional effort to obstruct the federal government’s enforcement of federal immigration law and to impede consultation and communication between federal, state, and local law enforcement officials that is necessary for federal officials to carry out federal immigration law and keep Americans safe.”

Forcing Chicago and Illinois law enforcement officials to help federal agents conduct deportation operations is unconstitutional, Jenkins ruled.

Johnson and Pritzker have repeatedly said Chicago and Illinois will continue to prohibit local and state law enforcement agents from helping Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents deport undocumented residents unless they have been convicted of a crime.

Chicago received approximately $3.5 billion in new and existing federal grant dollars in 2025, officials said. The city’s 2025 budget was $17.1 billion. Chicago Public Schools received $1.3 billion from the federal government during the 2024-25 fiscal year.

The Trump administration has halted the $1.9 billion the CTA expects to receive from the federal government to extend the Red Line south to 130th Street.

Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]

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