A federal judge dismissed the Trump administration's lawsuit against Los Angeles in June 2026 over the city's sanctuary ordinance. The court ruled that the government had not made a strong enough legal case to move forward — it failed to meet the basic requirement that a lawsuit contain enough detail to suggest a legitimate claim.

L.A.'s ordinance prevents the city from using its police or staff to help federal immigration agents enforce immigration law. The Trump administration said this policy was unconstitutional. The judge disagreed and threw out the case entirely.

L.A. City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto said the ruling showed that cities have the right to make their own decisions, according to the Los Angeles Times. She was legally correct. A constitutional rule called the anti-commandeering doctrine — created by earlier court decisions — says the federal government cannot force state or local governments to do federal work. When L.A. refuses to redirect its police to federal immigration enforcement, that's exactly what the doctrine protects. The Trump administration's argument had to work around this rule, and the judge found it simply did not.

Cities and counties have battled with the federal government over sanctuary policies before, especially during the first Trump administration. Back then, the government threatened to take away federal funding. This time, it decided to attack the law as unconstitutional — a bolder but riskier move. The legal rule against commandeering states and cities is old, well-tested, and has been upheld by the current Supreme Court majority. The administration can try again with a better legal argument if it wants to. Whether it does will show how hard the White House is willing to fight over this issue.

About 500 communities across the United States have some kind of sanctuary policy. If the Trump administration had won this case, it could have used that victory to challenge sanctuary policies everywhere. Instead, this ruling protects them — at least for now. City lawyers can now point to this court decision in other lawsuits.

If the administration decides to keep fighting, it can file a new, improved lawsuit or appeal this ruling to a higher court. But both paths face tough legal obstacles. The bigger picture here is that lower courts have consistently sided with sanctuary cities against federal pressure, and that pattern is likely to continue unless the Supreme Court steps in.