By Nate Raymond
BOSTON, May 28 (Reuters) – A federal judge threw out a lawsuit that U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration filed challenging a Boston ordinance that restricts police cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.
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Boston-based U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin ruled that the U.S. Department of Justice lacked legal grounds to pursue the lawsuit, one of around a dozen it has filed challenging laws adopted by so-called “sanctuary jurisdictions” run by Democrats.
The lawsuit was filed in September against the city and Democratic Mayor Michelle Wu and challenged the Boston Trust Act, a law first adopted in 2014. The city council reaffirmed its support for the measure in December 2024 as Trump prepared to return to office.
The law bars the Boston Police Department and other city officials from collaborating with federal authorities including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to conduct civil immigration enforcement, including by keeping migrants for potential deportation or sharing their personal information.
The Justice Department argued those provisions impeded federal immigration enforcement in violation of the U.S. Constitution and were preempted by federal immigration law.
But Sorokin, who was appointed by Democratic President Barack Obama, said the administration failed to demonstrate it had legal standing to challenge the measure and could not show any ruling in its favor would remedy the harms the federal government alleged it was suffering.
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He said that even if he blocked the city’s law, Boston police would still not be able to assist ICE in the way the Justice Department wanted due to a ruling handed down by Massachusetts’ highest court in 2017 during Trump’s first term that barred law enforcement in the state from detaining non-citizens based solely on a federal civil immigration detainer.
“In Massachusetts, there is simply no source of authority empowering Boston police officers to do what the United States would like them to do,” Sorokin wrote.
The Justice Department did not respond to a request for comment.
According to his ruling, the Justice Department has so far lost every similar case against cities and states with “sanctuary” policies, with judges tossing four other lawsuits in Colorado, Illinois and New York.
“Today’s ruling is a victory for the rule of law and for local governments across the country,” Jill Habig, whose group the Public Rights Project helped defend Boston against the lawsuit, said in a statement.
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(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
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