A ruling in April by a federal judge said that the Department of Justice could not limit the funds supplied to sanctuary cities because that power lied in the hands of Congress.

Judge William H. Orrick was responsible for the ruling over the Executive Order signed by Trump in January, stating the effort would cause the targeted cities “immediate irreparable harm.”

The budget released this week by the President Donald Trump administration includes significant reforms to immigration law that would amount to a crackdown on so-called sanctuary cities, according to The Hill.

Wyn Hornbuckle, a spokesman for the Department of Justice, said the changes are meant to “expand the scope to prevent state and local government officials from prohibiting or restricting any government law enforcement entity or official from complying with a lawful civil immigration detainer request."

Attorney General Jeff Sessions memo on Monday limited the grants in question “solely to federal grants administered by the Department of Justice or the Department of Homeland Security, and not to other sources of federal funding,” a previous stickler in the issue surrounding immigration detainers.
Local authorities have long argued those detainers violate prisoners' constitutional rights, particularly those of the 4th amendment, and put cities and jails at risk of being sued.

In a January executive order, President Trump ordered the withholding of federal grants, “except as deemed necessary for law enforcement purposes by the Attorney General or the Secretary [of Homeland Security]” to sanctuary cities.

“This is the Trump era,” Sessions said at the time according to VICE News. “This will be the administration that fully enforces our nation’s immigration laws.”