SEATTLE — The city of Seattle is joining a lawsuit led by other so-called sanctuary jurisdictions, alleging the Trump administration is illegally threatening to cut off federal resources and deputize local law enforcement in its efforts to deport more people from the United States.

City Attorney Ann Davison said the impact to Seattle should it lose federal resources would be "significant." She said she's joining the case to resist the Trump administration's effort to dictate local policy decisions.

"It is an issue about federal overreach into local control," she said.

King County government signed on to the case over the weekend, alongside Portland, San Francisco and New Haven, Conn. Davison said Seattle will be officially added in the coming days.

The lawsuit primarily concerns an executive order Donald Trump signed within hours of taking office last month, which seeks to deny federal funds to any jurisdiction resisting federal law enforcement activity targeting undocumented immigrants.

The administration has also issued memos threatening civil and criminal prosecutions against local officials who refuse to cooperate.

"I think it's important to say, 'This should not be tolerated,' and we're going to make sure we have our voice heard," Davison said.

The precise definition of a "sanctuary" jurisdiction is squishy and does not have a legal grounding. Rather, it's a catchall for places like Washington and Seattle where local law enforcement is explicitly barred from assisting in federal immigration operations, with limited exceptions.

Washington in 2019 passed a law limiting local governments' ability to participate in immigration raids, to the liking of Democratic strongholds west of the mountains and to the displeasure of more Trump-friendly counties eager to help the presidential administration achieve its goals.

Seattle prefers the term "welcoming city" and has already gone through one round of this fight with the Trump administration. In 2017, then-City Attorney Pete Holmes sued for many of the same reasons. The city won its case in the U.S. District Court of Western Washington, though there was a smorgasbord of sometimes conflicting court proceedings on the subject of sanctuary jurisdictions, many of which were halted when former President Joe Biden took office.

Seattle in 2023 spent around $200 million in federal funds as part of its more than $7 billion budget. That number was inflated by roughly $50 million in COVID relief dollars that have mostly fallen away.

The dollars most likely to be at risk would be related to transportation; the city received more than $20 million in grants in 2023.

Seattle's response to Trump's election was more muted in 2024 than in 2016. Gone were the mass gatherings on the steps of City Hall. In their place were statements about defending the city when necessary and collaborating with the administration where appropriate.

The volume has increased slightly; the Seattle City Council recently established a new committee explicitly to react to federal policies.

For her part, Davison ran as a Republican for Washington lieutenant governor in 2020, when Trump was also on the ballot.

She said she understands that people in Seattle — where Trump is deeply unpopular — might question that decision, but said her current office is nonpartisan and she's prepared to push back where necessary. She said she takes seriously any possible threats from the Trump administration.

"We will review, we will be up to date on things that are stated (by the administration), but we will not spend our time chasing hypotheticals they are talking about," she said. "We will actually look at 'What is the action taken?' and then provide a very thought-out response."

U.S. Department of Justice spokesperson Gates McGavick said in a statement that sanctuary areas are "actively impeding law enforcement and prioritizing illegal aliens over their own citizens."

"The days of flouting federal law without consequence ended the second President Trump was sworn back into office," the statement said.

The Department of Justice recently sued Chicago and Illinois over their sanctuary laws.

Materials from The Seattle Times archives was used in this report.

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