A Trump administration lawsuit against the city of Rochester, New York, for its sanctuary city policies hit a brick wall in the form of an Obama-appointed federal judge.
The lawsuit originated from an incident in March 2025 when local Rochester police assisted Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in the arrest of a Guatemalan man during a traffic stop.
‘They simply recognize the different functions of each governmental body. … They do not dictate how the federal government must act and therefore do not violate the intergovernmental immunity doctrine.’
City leaders criticized the police and said their actions violated their sanctuary city policies. The officers were taken off the street to receive additional training.
The Department of Justice sued the city, the mayor, and the city council president and accused them of violating the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution.
Judge Frank Geraci of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York rejected the argument from the federal government.
“Rochester’s Sanctuary City laws and policies are not a prohibition on or interference with the federal government’s role in enforcing immigration policy,” he wrote in the ruling dated Tuesday. “Instead, they simply recognize the different functions of each governmental body.”
He argued that the sanctuary city laws “only dictate” that the police officers cannot participate in immigration enforcement.
“As such, they do not dictate how the federal government must act and therefore do not violate the intergovernmental immunity doctrine,” Geraci added.
White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis responded to the ruling in a statement to Blaze News.
“These sanctuary policies make Americans less safe,” she said.
“Extreme Democrats’ sanctuary policies result in criminal illegal aliens being directly released from jail back into American communities to perpetrate more crimes and create more innocent American victims,” she added.
Bis cited the murder of Georgia nursing student Laken Riley in 2024 by an illegal alien who had been previously released over a “lack of detention space.”
Rochester Mayor Malik Evans, a Democrat, responded in a statement about the ruling.
“Once again, grandstanding of the Trump administration has been found to be without any legal legitimacy,” Evans wrote. “The City of Rochester remains committed to guaranteeing public safety for all, not being coerced into doing the federal government’s work of immigration enforcement.”
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Seven out of the 10 safest cities in the U.S. cooperate with ICE, according to Homeland Security.
The case was dismissed with prejudice, meaning the Justice Dept. is unable to refile the complaint against Rochester.
Geraci was appointed to the court by former President Barack Obama in 2012.
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Department of justice, Immigration and customs enforcement, Rochester, Supremacy clause, Sanctuary cities, Politics
