Nearly a dozen local governments from across the country have joined a lawsuit led by San Francisco challenging the Trump administration's crackdown on sanctuary city policies.

San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu announced Friday that several California cities including Emeryville, Oakland, Sacramento, San Jose, San Diego and Santa Cruz, along with Monterey County, joined the lawsuit in an amended complaint filed Thursday.

In addition, Seattle, Washington; Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota; along with Santa Fe, New Mexico were part of the amended complaint.

"Once again, the federal government is illegally asserting rights it does not have," Chiu said in a statement Friday.

Shortly after taking office, President Trump signed an executive order that seeks to stop federal funding to sanctuary cities. Meanwhile, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi issued a directive to punish sanctuary jurisdictions by ending funding to any that "unlawfully interfere with federal law enforcement operations" or otherwise do not comply with the federal government's immigration policies.

On Feb. 19, Mr. Trump issued another executive order directing executive departments and agencies to ensure "Federal payments to States and localities do not, by design or effect, facilitate the subsidization or promotion of illegal immigration, or abet so-called 'sanctuary' policies that seek to shield illegal aliens from deportation."

"They want to commandeer local law enforcement, while strong-arming local officials with threats of defunding or prosecution. Their actions are illegal and authoritarian, and we believe they will again be found unconstitutional and unenforceable," Chiu said.

"Unfairly targeting cities based on ideology goes against the democratic values that created this country," said San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan.

The lawsuit, originally filed on Feb. 7, was initially joined by Santa Clara County, the city of Portland, Oregon; the city of New Haven Connecticut; and King County, Washington. According to Chiu's office, the 16 jurisdictions that are part of the lawsuit are home to nearly 10 million people.

"These are local governments, large and small, in very different parts of the state and the nation, that are taking a stand against the Federal government's attempt to unconstitutionally commandeer local resources to assist with immigration enforcement," said Tony LoPresti, counsel for Santa Clara County.

San Francisco has had sanctuary laws in place since 1989. The city said studies have consistently shown immigrants are less likely to commit crimes, while sanctuary jurisdictions either see no increase in crime or have lower crime rates.

Opponents of sanctuary jurisdictions the policies allow dangerous criminals back on the streets, while supporters say threatening undocumented immigrants with deportation erodes trust in the community and makes people fearful to report crimes, go to school, or obtain needed healthcare.  

The city sued the federal government during the first Trump administration after it tried to withhold federal funds from the city because of its sanctuary policies. The city prevailed in that suit in 2018 after an appeals court ruled the policies were legal and the withholding of funds was unconstitutional.

In 2017, California lawmakers approved a statewide sanctuary law known as the California Values Act, barring state and local police from enforcing federal immigration laws and limiting police cooperation with federal immigration officials.  

The Trump administration sued California over the law in 2018, but a federal district court declined to block enforcement of the statute, finding that its provisions did not create an impermissible obstacle to enforcement of federal law. In 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case.