ISTANBUL

A US federal judge on Friday halted the Trump administration's attempt to withhold federal funding from numerous sanctuary cities and counties, including several of the nation's largest cities.

In April, District Judge William Orrick ruled that President Donald Trump's move to freeze funding for local governments limiting cooperation with immigration authorities was unconstitutional, a decision that initially applied to over a dozen cities and counties, including San Francisco, Sacramento, Minneapolis and Seattle.

On Friday, Orrick expanded his ruling to include dozens of other cities and counties that joined the lawsuit, including Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, Baltimore, Denver and Albuquerque.

In his ruling, Orrick said the administration did not oppose extending the injunction, apart from arguing that the initial order was incorrect, which it has already appealed.

Orrick also barred the administration from attaching immigration-related conditions to two specific grant programs.

Within hours of taking office in January, Trump directed his administration to block federal funds to sanctuary jurisdictions, and weeks later ordered that federal funding should not support illegal immigration.

Attorney General Pam Bondi also announced that the Justice Department would withhold grants from sanctuary cities, with the administration arguing these cities hinder federal law enforcement and obstruct ICE from apprehending undocumented immigrants, including violent offenders.

The Trump administration’s crackdown on sanctuary cities has prompted a wave of lawsuits, with 20 states recently suing over the Justice Department’s move to condition crime victim grants on immigration enforcement.