Donald Trump's executive order against sanctuary cities blocked nationwide by judge ruling

Federal judge rules that Donald Trump's sanctuary city executive order would be used for more than just blocking law enforcement grants

A US Judge blocked US President Donald Trump's executive order to cut off federal funding to cities that don't cooperate or limit cooperation with immigration authorities (AP)

A judge in San Francisco has blocked Donald Trump's executive order withholding funds from sanctuary cities that fail to comply with federal immigration demands.

The block came after San Francisco and Santa Clara County asked the courts to intervene, arguing that more than $1 billion was at stake for each of them.

In his ruling US District Judge William Orrick III wrote that the language of the executive order made it clear that the Trump administration planned on using the order to block funding for more than just law enforcement as federal lawyers had argued.

“And if there was doubt about the scope of the Order, the President and Attorney General have erased it with their public comments,” he wrote.

Sanctuary cities generally don’t allow the use of local funds to comply with federal immigration requests, including civil detainer requests in which Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers request that a local jail detain an inmate for up to 48 hours after their scheduled release date so immigration officials can decide if they want to detain them.

The court's intervention is another setback for Mr Trump, who has struggled to secure a major legislative victory in his first 100 days in office and has has been challenged by opponents on some of his highest profile executive actions aimed at fulfilling campaign promises.

That includes two controversial travel bans that were halted in federal courts that would have restricted travel into the United States from several predominantly Muslim countries.

Mr Trump had made eliminating sanctuary cities a major part of his campaign after an undocumented immigrant shot and killed 32-year-old Kathryn Steinle as she walked with her father in the city. Following the news of her death, Mr Trump began repeatedly referencing her on the campaign trail.

But supporters of sanctuary cities have vehemently opposed Mr Trump’s efforts to pull federal funding from cities that don’t comply with federal immigration officials. In addition to San Francisco and Santa Clara County, two Massachusetts cities and a third California city filed lawsuits against Mr Trump’s executive order.