Legal Battle Erupts as Trump Challenges Los Angeles Sanctuary City Status

Donald Trump is ramping up his war against liberal ‘sanctuary city’ Los Angeles with a new major lawsuit. 

The Justice Department, led by Trump appointee Pam Bondi, sued the city on Monday following weeks of anti-ICE riots and destruction. 

The lawsuit argues that LA’s policies attempting to ‘deliberately’ thwart the work of immigration agents violate federal law.

‘According to Bondi’s statement to the Daily Mail, the recent violence, chaos, and attacks on law enforcement witnessed in Los Angeles were primarily fueled by sanctuary policies,’ Bondi expressed.

‘By giving preference to illegal aliens over American citizens, jurisdictions like Los Angeles are seen as defying federal law and, in turn, destabilizing law enforcement operations at all levels. The era of such practices will come to an end under President Trump,’ as mentioned in the statement.

It comes after DOJ also sued Chicago, Illinois, Denver, Colorado, Rochester, New York, challenging the cities’ so-called sanctuary policies.

Due to the inability of local authorities to control the riots that engulfed parts of the city in June, Los Angeles has incurred the disapproval of the Trump administration.

In response to the riots, Trump took control of the California National Guard and ordered them to descend upon the city.

The Justice Department, led by Trump appointee Pam Bondi, sued the city on Monday following weeks of anti-ICE riots and destruction

Donald Trump is ramping up his war against liberal ‘sanctuary city’ Los Angeles with a new major lawsuit

People protest in downtown Los Angeles, CA on Saturday, June 14, 202

Noem said she spoke with the senator afterwards and she believes he disrupted the event because he wanted to cause a scene

He directed them to ‘provide safety around buildings and to those that are engaged in peaceful protests, and also to our law enforcement officers, so they can continue their daily work,’ as described by DHS Secretary Kristi Noem during a CBS interview earlier this month.

The president slammed rioters as ‘bad people’ and ‘animals’ and even flirted with invoking the Insurrection Act.

He brushed off California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s claim that the deployment inflamed the situation.

And he would not rule out use of an authority to deploy military forces under his control to put down disturbances if he sees fit.

‘If there’s an insurrection, I would certainly invoke it. We’ll see. But I can tell you, last night was terrible. The night before that was terrible,’ Trump said on June 10.

‘If we didn’t send in the national guard quickly, right now, Los Angeles would be burning to the ground.’

Trump later called in the U.S. Marines to Los Angeles to protect the Wilshire Federal Building, which houses several federal offices amid further riots that were planned in the city.

Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) was thrown out of a press conference held by Noem in LA earlier this month.

The spectacle occurred after he reportedly did not identify himself as a member of Congress during the event and lunged towards the from of the room where Noem was speaking.

Padilla was forcefully removed and handcuffed by officers as he tried to question Noem about the immigration raids. 

Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) was thrown out of a press conference held by Noem in LA earlier this month

Vice President JD Vance visits with troops at the Wilshire Federal Building

U.S. Vice President JD Vance delivers remarks at the Wilshire Federal Building in Los Angeles

During his own visit to Los Angeles, Vice President JD Vance called Padilla ‘Jose Padilla’, which was seen by some as derogatory dig.

‘I was hoping José Padilla would be here to ask a question. But, unfortunately, I guess he decided not to show up because there wasn’t the theater, and that’s all it is,’ Vance lamented at the time.  

‘It’s pure political theater. These guys show up, they want to be captured on camera doing something,’ Vance added.

The real José Padilla, a US citizen, was convicted of supporting al Qaeda and was sentenced to more than 17 years in prison in 2007.

California lawmakers, including Governor Gavin Newsom, took no time to slam the vice president – saying that he clearly made the slip up on purpose.

LA ICE rioters cause chaos in the streets on June 10, 2025

National Guardsmen and a police officer take up security positions in front of a burned and looted shopping center

Taylor Van Kirk, Vance’s press secretary, told NBC News: ‘He must have mixed up two people who have broken the law.’

‘They want to be able to go back to their far-left groups and to say, `Look, me, I stood up against border enforcement. I stood up against Donald Trump,´’ Vance added.

A spokesperson for Padilla, Tess Oswald, noted in a social media post that Padilla and Vance were formerly colleagues in the Senate and said that Vance should know better. 

‘He should be more focused on demilitarizing our city than taking cheap shots,’ Oswald said.

Vance’s visit to Los Angeles to tour a multiagency Federal Joint Operations Center and a mobile command center came as demonstrations calmed down in the city and a curfew was lifted. 

That followed over a week of sometimes-violent clashes between protesters and police and outbreaks of vandalism and looting that followed immigration raids across Southern California.

Trump later called in the Marines to Los Angeles to protect the Wilshire Federal Building, which houses several federal offices amid further riots that were planned in the city

Demonstrators march through downtown during a ‘No Kings’ protest in Los Angeles, California