Sacramento schools join legal effort challenging Trump on sanctuary penalties
Sacramento City Unified joined other school districts and teachers unions Wednesday in a legal brief supporting San Francisco’s efforts to maintain federal funds for sanctuary jurisdictions.
The schools’ friend-of-the-court filing in U.S. District Court in San Francisco backs the city’s January lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump’s executive order threatening to withhold federal funds for “sanctuary jurisdictions.”
The amicus brief, like another one filed in federal court in Santa Clara County, complains the presidential order impedes districts’ efforts to educate all students and deters students from attending class because they fear deportation.
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Monday the Justice Department will require cities to comply with immigration laws to receive grants through the Office of Justice Programs. Trump also said during the presidential campaign he would defund sacntuary cities.
Darren Teshima, a partner at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, which filed the two amicus briefs, said the stakes “could not be higher for school children.” He said the executive order has raised the climate of fear among students and has been “harming the inclusive environment you have when you’re in the classroom.”
Both the San Francisco and Santa Clara cases are set for an April 14 hearing in San Francisco.
Trustees for the Sacramento City Unified School District voted in December to declare the district a “safe haven” to protect students fearful of deportation or hate speech.
Loretta Kalb: 916-321-1073, @LorettaSacBee
This story was originally published March 29, 2017 at 12:41 PM with the headline "Sacramento schools join legal effort challenging Trump on sanctuary penalties."