The Trump administration has filed a federal lawsuit against the City of Los Angeles, accusing it of illegally obstructing immigration enforcement through its sanctuary city policies. The lawsuit, announced Monday, names Mayor Karen Bass and the entire city council as defendants and follows a wave of violent anti-ICE riots earlier this month.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, accuses Los Angeles of violating the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution by refusing to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations and discriminating against federal law enforcement officers.
“Sanctuary City laws and policies are designed to deliberately impede federal immigration officers’ ability to carry out their responsibilities in those jurisdictions,” the Justice Department wrote in the complaint. “The Los Angeles Ordinance and other policies intentionally discriminate against the Federal Government by treating federal immigration authorities differently.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi issued a strong statement following the lawsuit, blaming the city’s policies for sparking recent chaos in the streets. “Sanctuary policies were the driving cause of the violence, chaos, and attacks on law enforcement that Americans recently witnessed in Los Angeles,” Bondi said. “Jurisdictions like Los Angeles that flout federal law by prioritizing illegal aliens over American citizens are undermining law enforcement at every level — it ends under President Trump.”
The lawsuit comes just weeks after violent anti-ICE riots broke out across Los Angeles in early June. The unrest followed targeted immigration raids by federal agents, including one at a Home Depot in the Hispanic-majority city of Paramount on June 7.
Rioters reportedly assaulted ICE agents, burned vehicles, defaced public property, and looted businesses in downtown Los Angeles. The federal government responded by deploying approximately 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 active-duty Marines to restore order.
Officials say the riots caused at least $30 million in damage to the city, up from earlier estimates of $20 million, and led to over 1,000 rioters surrounding a federal building and slashing tires of government vehicles.
The Trump administration’s lawsuit seeks to have Los Angeles’ sanctuary city ordinance declared unlawful and unenforceable. It also aims to bar Mayor Bass, Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson, and other officials from continuing to enforce policies that prohibit cooperation with federal immigration authorities.
Since returning to office, President Trump has made dismantling sanctuary laws a top priority.
Los Angeles joins a growing list of jurisdictions targeted by his administration, including New York, Chicago, and several New Jersey cities. In each case, the Department of Justice has filed lawsuits aimed at compelling state and local governments to comply with federal immigration laws.
The lawsuit outlines three constitutional violations, focusing on the city’s refusal to comply with valid federal civil warrants, its restrictions on data sharing with ICE, and its broader attempt to shield illegal immigrants from deportation. According to the administration, these policies not only undermine immigration law but have directly endangered public safety.
“The practical upshot of Los Angeles’ refusal to cooperate with federal immigration authorities has, since June 6, 2025, been lawlessness, rioting, looting, and vandalism,” the lawsuit states.
The legal battle over sanctuary cities is expected to escalate in the months ahead as the Trump administration continues to challenge local policies it says put American citizens at risk.