MALDEF

MALDEF STATEMENT ON RULING BLOCKING TRUMP ADMINISTRATION'S THREAT TO WITHHOLD FEDERAL FUNDS FROM SANCTUARY COMMUNITIES


April 25, 2017


Los Angeles, CA- Please attribute this statement on U.S. District Judge William Orrick’s ruling that Donald Trump’s executive order threatening to pull funding from sanctuary communities is unconstitutional to Thomas A. Saenz, President and General Counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund:

"Today's decision by Judge William Orrick enjoining the executive order threatening 'sanctuary' cities vindicates constitutional limits on executive authority. The order demonstrates that the Trump Administration's nearly 100-day campaign of bullying must end. Donald Trump, Jeff Sessions, and John Kelly have each repeatedly engaged in overstating their constitutional authority with respect to immigration enforcement policy, threatening cities, schools, Congress members, and millions of immigrant families that have contributed to our nation's ongoing success. The administration's pretensions to imperial authority have no basis in the Constitution. The 'bully pulpit' offered as a defense in the case is not in fact a license to bully. Enough."



Founded in 1968, MALDEF is the nation's leading Latino legal civil rights organization. Often described as the "Latino Legal Voice for Civil Rights in America" MALDEF promotes social change through advocacy, communications, community education, and litigation in the areas of education, employment, immigrant rights, and political access. For more information on MALDEF, please visit: www.maldef.org.

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