Demonstrators gathered outside of Portlands ICE headquarters on March 6 to protest recent immigration enforcement.
Demonstrators gathered outside of Portland's ICE headquarters on March 6 to protest recent immigration enforcement. DOUG BROWN

A judge has blocked an order from the Trump Administration cutting off funding to sanctuary cities like Portland and Seattle that limit their cooperation with federal immigration officials, the Associated Press reports.

The ruling came after two California jurisdictions—San Francisco and Santa Clara County—sued, arguing the order "threatened billions of dollars in federal funding for each of them, making it difficult to plan their budgets," according to the AP. The feds claim local governments are interpreting the order too broadly and it would affect a much smaller portion of their budgets.

Seattle has filed a similar lawsuit, and the mayor's office has said the city could stand to lose up to $85 million in federal funding a year. Earlier this month, Portland City Council voted to join up with that suit.

President Donald Trump first signed the order in January. Then, in a March 27 press conference, Attorney General Jeff Sessions reiterated the administration's plans, saying the Department of Justice would only provide federal grant dollars to jurisdictions that comply with USC 1373, which says cities and counties can't prohibit communication with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Local officials said they do in fact comply with that policy and Sessions' threat was empty. Two days later, Mayor Ed Murray and City Attorney Pete Holmes announced they would sue the Trump administration over the order.

Representatives from the mayor's office and city attorney's office were not immediately available for comment. We'll update this post when we hear more.