Santa Cruz County nonprofit Community Bridges and six other Bay Area and health organizations are backing a lawsuit against two executive orders by President Donald Trump seeking to withhold funding from sanctuary cities.
The organizations filed an amicus brief in the case, showing how the loss of funds affects their ability to provide services from food assistance and senior nutrition to disability services and child care.
Community Bridges CEO Raymon Cancino said in a news release that the federal government’s slashing of the funds is a “direct assault on local self-determination and the people” they serve.
“We join this fight because our work cannot be dictated by fear or partisan retaliation,” he said. “These dollars belong to the people; they must be invested in the well-being of our communities, not withheld as punishment for upholding America’s promise of liberty and refuge.”
In his first month on the job, Trump signed two executive orders that directed agencies to withhold federal funding from so-called sanctuary cities – broadly, cities that have limited their cooperation with federal authorities to carry out deportations.
The counties of Santa Clara and San Francisco originally sued the Trump administration over the issue in February. The City of Santa Cruz later joined the lawsuit, along with several other jurisdictions across the country.
In April, U.S. District Judge William Orrick issued a preliminary injunction that blocked the orders, and the Trump administration later appealed the decision to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Community Bridges and its partners filed the amicus curiae brief, which means “friend of the court,” to support Orrick’s injunction. Community Bridges isn’t directly involved in the lawsuit, but its brief adds information to show how the loss of the funds affects its services.
The brief was filed by the Asian Law Caucus and Cooley LLP, and the other organizations that filed alongside Community Bridges include the San Francisco Interfaith Council, San Francisco Immigrant Legal & Education Network, Silicon Valley Council of Nonprofits, California Association of Nonprofits, California Behavioral Health Association and the Behavioral Health Contractors’ Association.
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