A federal judge has tossed out most of the Trump administration’s lawsuit attacking Los Angeles’ sanctuary-city ordinance, the City Attorney’s office announced Monday, leaving the law intact for now and narrowing the case to the city as a municipal corporation.
What the ordinance does
The law, formally titled the “Prohibition of the Use of City Resources for Federal Immigration Enforcement,” sets strict limits on how Los Angeles can help with federal immigration work. It bars city personnel, property and data from being used for federal immigration enforcement unless state or federal law specifically requires it. The ordinance also restricts when city workers can ask about or disclose someone’s immigration or citizenship status and curbs access to nonpublic city facilities for immigration operations. The measure was adopted by the City Council in late 2024, as laid out in the Los Angeles City Clerk records.
The federal case
The Department of Justice sued last year in the Central District of California, arguing that Los Angeles’ ordinance unlawfully gets in the way of federal immigration enforcement and discriminates against federal officials under the Supremacy Clause. The lawsuit was filed as Case No. 2:25-cv-05917, according to the Department of Justice.
Judge's ruling and city reaction
In a ruling issued Saturday, the court granted the city’s motion to dismiss. The judge found that the federal government had not plausibly shown the ordinance violates the doctrine of intergovernmental immunity and rejected its arguments that federal law preempts the measure. The order also dismissed with prejudice the claims against Mayor Karen Bass, City Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson and the City Council, leaving the City of Los Angeles as the sole remaining defendant.
"This order reinforces the well-established principle that local governments have the authority to decide how to use their personnel and resources," City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto said, according to MyNewsLA.
A growing run of rulings
The Los Angeles decision slots into a growing line of federal rulings that have tossed or trimmed back similar Justice Department challenges to local immigration policies. Most recently, a judge in May dismissed the federal government’s suit over Boston’s Trust Act. Observers note that these outcomes often rest on anti-commandeering principles and on limits to the kinds of remedies federal courts can grant in this arena, as reported by GBH News.
What this means for Los Angeles
City officials are treating the ruling as confirmation that local leaders can decide how to deploy city employees and manage city-held information, while emphasizing that the ordinance, in their view, "does not obstruct or impede lawful federal immigration enforcement operations." The City Attorney’s office has said the law is designed to help protect victims and witnesses so they will feel safe reporting crimes without worrying about immigration fallout, according to MyNewsLA.
What’s next
For now, the ordinance remains in force and continues to guide how city departments handle information sharing and access for immigration agents, as reflected in the ordinance text itself. It is not yet clear whether the Department of Justice will seek further review of the dismissal, and legal advocates on both sides say the outcome in Los Angeles could shape how similar cases play out across the country.
