The Department of Justice dropped a bomb when it announced a lawsuit against the woke leadership of the city of Los Angeles, including Mayor Karen Bass and the members of the City Council, over LA’s “sanctuary city” policies, which the DOJ argued violate the Constitution.
For context, on June 30, 2025, press accounts confirmed that the Department of Justice had sued the city of Los Angeles over policies that the DOJ said violated the Constitution and subverted President Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration. The lawsuit was filed just weeks after violent anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) protests broke out in Los Angeles on June 6.
According to the lawsuit, Los Angeles’s policies that allow local law enforcement to refuse to assist ICE agents in raids are unconstitutional and illegal. The lawsuit argues that these laws are designed to “obstruct the federal government’s enforcement of federal immigration law.”
Moreover, the lawsuit contends that LA’s sanctuary policies “impede consultation and communication between federal, state, and local law enforcement officials that is necessary for federal officials to carry out federal immigration law and keep Americans safe.” In addition, the DOJ asserted that Los Angeles had been subverting President Trump’s authority since “days after…the Nov. 5, 2024, election.”
Furthermore, the DOJ made the case that Los Angeles’s leadership had a political agenda of “wishing to thwart the will of the American people regarding deportations,” adding that the city “began the process of codifying into law its sanctuary city policies” immediately after President Trump was elected “on a platform of deporting the millions of illegal immigrants the previous administration permitted.”
In an official statement regarding the lawsuit, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said that the lawsuit was a response to sanctuary policies as “the driving cause of the violence, chaos, and attacks on law enforcement that Americans recently witnessed in Los Angeles.” She continued, “Jurisdictions like Los Angeles that flout federal law by prioritizing illegal aliens over American citizens are undermining law enforcement at every level — it ends under President Trump.”
Furthermore, Bill Essayli, Los Angeles’s U.S. Attorney, said that the lawsuit serves to hold LA “accountable for deliberately obstructing the enforcement of federal immigration law.” He added, “The United States Constitution’s Supremacy Clause prohibits the city from picking and choosing which federal laws will be enforced and which will not.”
"*" indicates required fields
Continuing, U.S. Attorney Essayli explained, “By assisting removable aliens in evading federal law enforcement, the city’s unlawful and discriminatory ordinance has contributed to a lawless and unsafe environment that this lawsuit will help end.” He added that LA leadership will “allow the FBI in, but they won’t allow ICE agents in, so they’re discriminating about which agents can enter what buildings.”
Featured image credit: Attorney General Pam Bondi via X