Seattle sues Donald Trump over sanctuary cities executive order

The City of Seattle filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday against President Donald Trump's January executive order against sanctuary cities, which calls for the denial of federal grant funding to so-called "sanctuary cities."

Seattle alleges that denying federal funding to jurisdictions that do not enforce federal immigration law is a violation of the 10th Amendment, according to the lawsuit, filed in the Western District of Washington.

"Seattle will not be bullied by this White House or this administration and today we are taking legal action against President Trump's unconstitutional order," Seattle Mayor Ed Murray said in a news release. "We have the law on our side: The federal government cannot compel our police department to enforce federal immigration law and cannot use our federal dollars to coerce Seattle into turning our backs on our immigrant and refugee communities."

On Monday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said that sanctuary cities would not receive federal grants from the Department of Justice for things like community policing or terrorism prevention. 

The Fraternal Order of Police, the largest police union in the country that backed Trump's candidacy, expressed concern directly to Trump over the denial of federal funds for police, saying it would make cities less safe. 

And cities like Seattle have said that targeting sanctuary cities will discourage undocumented immigrants from reporting crimes to local law enforcement out of fear of deportation.