Los Angeles City Attorney Hydee ‌Feldstein Soto announced on Sunday “a legal victory” for the city, stating that a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit by US President Donald Trump’s administration over its sanctuary city ordinance.

Feldstein Soto stated: “This order reinforces the well-established principle that local governments have the authority to decide how to use their personnel and resources.”

The ruling, issued by US District Judge Fernando Olguin over the weekend, rebukes the administration’s claims that the ordinance violates the intergovernmental immunities doctrine. It finds that the city’s policies are not expressly pre-empted by federal immigration law, allowing the ordinance to remain in place.

In December 2024, LA Mayor Karen Bass signed into effect the “Prohibition of the use of City Resources for Federal Immigration Enforcement” ordinance, also known as the “Sanctuary City” ordinance. The directive prohibits LA resources and personnel from cooperating with federal immigration authorities by inquiring into a citizen’s immigration status or providing access to any city data to determine an individual’s citizenship status. Feldstein Soto indicated in her statement that the purpose of the ordinance was to encourage victims or witnesses of crime to seek help from the LA Police Department regardless of their citizenship status, not to obstruct or impede lawful federal immigration enforcement.

The Trump administration sued LA officials and the city at large over the legality of the ordinance in June 2025, following the mass protests that took place in the city objecting to Trump’s mass deportation policies and the federal government’s subsequent National Guard deployment to confront and quell protests.

In their complaint, the federal government alleged that the ordinance violated the intergovernmental immunities doctrine by “regulating and discriminating against” the federal government and was pre-empted by federal law.

Olguin indicated in his ruling that the government failed to plausibly allege an intergovernmental immunities violation because the ordinance controls the actions of the city’s agents and does not regulate the federal government. Additionally, he was not persuaded by the express pre-emption argument because the ordinance prevents city officials from inquiring into an individual’s immigration status, but says nothing about the official’s ability to cooperate with federal agents by maintaining or sharing the information.

The federal government is permitted to file an amended complaint correcting all deficiencies in its suit by July 3. Independent city officials, such as Mayor Bass, have been dismissed from the suit with prejudice, leaving the city as the only defendant should the government refile its complaint.

The suit is part of a larger movement by Trump’s administration to crack down on and restrict sanctuary city policies as part of immigration reform. The government has similarly lost suits in Boston and Illinois.