The U.S. Department of Justice has released a list of cities, counties and states it plans to possibly sue because they limit local cooperation with immigration enforcement.

Oregon and Washington were included on the DOJ’s list, along with 10 other states and the District of Columbia. Portland and Seattle, which have city sanctuary ordinances, were included on a list of sanctuary cities.

Oregon and Washington both have state laws that prohibit local law enforcement from participating in immigration raids, holding people on behalf of ICE or sharing information with ICE, with some exceptions.

Oregon’s law, for example, blocks state and local law enforcement and government agencies from assisting federal immigration officers without a judicial warrant.

In an April executive order, President Trump instructed the Justice Department to compile the list and to penalize sanctuary jurisdictions by terminating federal grants and contracts. In Tuesday’s statement, the DOJ said it would also take to the courts to oppose the policies.

“Sanctuary policies impede law enforcement and put American citizens at risk by design,” Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a press release that accompanied the list. “The Department of Justice will continue bringing litigation against sanctuary jurisdictions and work closely with the Department of Homeland Security to eradicate these harmful policies around the country.”

The Justice Department has already sued New York, Colorado, Illinois and a handful of cities, arguing their sanctuary laws are illegal and jeopardize public safety.

Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield said the list was an effort to pressure the state and it won’t work.

“Our sanctuary law — on the books since 1987 — has stood the test of time through seven presidential administrations, including President Trump’s first term,” he said in a written statement.

A spokesman for Washington’s attorney general said the state’s sanctuary law does not conflict with federal law, and keeps communities safe by focusing resources on state and local laws.

Some local law enforcement agencies in the Northwest have said that cooperating with federal agencies on law enforcement can discourage immigrant communities from reporting crimes because of fear that they could be deported. A landmark study using data from Texas criminal records also has found that undocumented immigrants commit crimes at lower rates than U.S. citizens or legal immigrants.

Portland Mayor Keith Wilson said the city will not allow its police officers to be used as agents of ICE, but it also won’t obstruct lawful federal enforcement operations.

“We will continue to uphold the values of inclusion and justice that define our community, and we will firmly oppose any unlawful efforts to deny access to essential services or funding,” he said in a statement.

Portland receives roughly $334 million in active federal grants, according to information provided by the mayor’s office.

Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell echoed those sentiments, calling the list “bluster.”

“It’s not going to work – the law is on our side – and we will not hesitate to protect our people,” Harrell said in a statement.

Earlier this year, San Francisco and Santa Clara County sued over an attempt by President Trump to cut off federal funding to sanctuary jurisdictions. Seattle and Portland joined the lawsuit, which has since grown to include 34 cities and jurisdictions.

Judge William Orrick of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California has issued a preliminary injunction, barring the administration from withholding funding over sanctuary policies.

In 2019, in a markedly similar case, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the right of cities and states to limit their cooperation with immigration enforcement in a lawsuit filed over another of President Trump’s executive orders. In 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the case, allowing the lower court ruling to stand.

Advocates of sanctuary jurisdictions say states are free to participate in immigration enforcement actions voluntarily. But the federal government cannot force state and local governments to redirect local resources to its deportation campaign because of a concept called the anti-commandeering doctrine in constitutional law. That doctrine was established in part by conservative jurists and was the basis for states’ successful challenge to the Medicaid expansion provisions of the Affordable Care Act.

Opponents of sanctuary jurisdictions argue that the federal government has supremacy in cases where federal and state laws conflict, and they say sanctuary jurisdictions are actively impeding federal agents. They’ve also invoked federal law that makes it a crime to harbor people violating immigration law.

Those two perspectives are being freshly tested in Washington State, where Attorney General Nick Brown has sued the sheriff of Adams County, a sparsely populated region between the Tri-Cities and Spokane, for allegedly detaining people on the basis of their immigration status in violation of state law.

The Adams County sheriff is receiving legal support from America First Legal Foundation, a nonprofit organization founded by White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller.

The U.S. solicitor general filed a brief in the case in support of Adams County, arguing Washington’s sanctuary law is illegal under the supremacy clause.

A federal judge in the Eastern District of Washington kicked the case back down in June to be heard in state court.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2025/08/05/northwest-states-cities-federal-threats-sanctuary-laws/