LOS ANGELES, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- Lawmakers in the western U.S. state of California on Saturday passed a "sanctuary state" bill to protect immigrants without legal status in the United States, in an obvious defiance against the policy of President Donald Trump's administration.
The bill would limit state and local law enforcement cooperation with federal immigration authorities, and prevent officials from asking about a person's immigration status and holding people for that reason.
The decision came about a month after Californian Attorney General Xavier Becerra filed a lawsuit against the Trump Administration over its threats to withhold public safety funds from so-called "sanctuary" cities.
Trump signed an Executive Order on Jan. 25 seeking to withhold federal funding for "sanctuary jurisdictions". The U.S. Department of Justice issued a directive in July warning that nine local governments may lose federal funding because of their "sanctuary" policies.
The nine governments on the blacklist are Chicago, the state of California, New Orleans, New York, Philadelphia, Clark County of Nevada, Cook County of Illinois, Miami-Dade County of Florida, and Milwaukee County of Wisconsin.
