President Donald Trump and his Department of Justice are making moves to yank federal funding from sanctuary cities that refuse to assist Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in their operations to apprehend and deport illegal aliens, many of whom have lengthy rap sheets full of violent crimes. Fresno City Attorney Andrew Janz blew his top when he was informed the administration threatened to withhold grant money the city uses to prosecute rapists due to the California city being deemed a refuge for aliens.
“Justice for victims shouldn’t be politicized. It has nothing to do with immigration enforcement,” Janz said in an interview with USA TODAY. The threat in Fresno is one of many coming from the Trump administration amid their crackdown on “sanctuary jurisdictions.” The tactic is designed to apply political pressure to cities to sign cooperation agreements with ICE officials by using its greatest tool: money.
The city of Santa Cruz, California, which has filed a lawsuit against the administration, claims there will be no federal funds available to purchase bulletproof vests for cops. Another suit says that without grant money, there will be no ambulances for paramedics in Beaverton, Oregon. And now, according to officials in Fresno, there will be no money to process rape kits. Unless, of course, they agree to help ICE enforce federal immigration law.
According to a report from USA Today, sanctuary cities have three options to choose from: give up the federal money, sign the ICE agreements, or take on the DOJ in a court of law. Janz revealed that he is ready to file a lawsuit. Fresno has already gone to court several times over other grants that are currently tied up over the Trump administration’s fight against diversity, equity, and inclusion policies.
“DOJ sent out a warning shot, we sent one back,” Janz told the outlet. The report then revealed that Los Angeles County has opted to forgo a number of federal grant opportunities rather than sign an agreement to cooperate with ICE. Some residents in Miami, Florida are furious that city leaders decided to do the right thing and sign on with ICE. Many others are filing lawsuits in response to the tactic.
In October 2025, the Justice Department named 12 states, 18 cities, and three counties it said “materially impede enforcement of federal immigration statutes.” Many of the locations the DOJ mentioned are refusing to share information with ICE, hold individuals for the agency, or allow agents to come into their jails.
A federal judge in California hit the Trump administration on July 9, 2026, when he ruled that the federal government couldn’t withhold public safety grants to both Oregon and California cities. Now the fight is brewing over rape kits. Judge William Orrick penned a 68-page ruling that claimed the president overstepped, agreeing with Fresno and seven other cities that the conditions attached to the grant “have nothing to do with or contradict the Congressional purpose.”
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The same judge also ruled in 2025 that President Trump could not deny funding to Boston, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, and at least 30 other cities, due to their lack of cooperation with immigration enforcement officials. When Trump was president in 2017 and attempting to rein in illegal immigration, the judge took the same course of action.