Attorney General Jeff Sessions is traveling to California to tout the new lawsuit on Friday morning in a speech to law enforcement officials in Sacramento. | Chris Kleponis/Pool/Getty Images Trump administration goes on offense, sues California over sanctuary laws

After more than a year on defense against a flurry of legal challenges to President Donald Trump’s immigration policies, the Justice Department went on offense Tuesday, filing a suit against the State of California that alleges obstruction of federal immigration enforcement.

Filed in federal court in Sacramento, the lawsuit targets three sanctuary-focused laws that the California Legislature passed last year. Each was passed as part of a backlash against Trump’s vows to step up immigration enforcement.


The litigation is modeled on a lawsuit the Obama administration filed in 2010 against a controversial state law in Arizona that sought to crack down on illegal immigrants, SB 1070. That case resulted in a Supreme Court ruling finding that some provisions of the Arizona law unconstitutionally intruded into Congress’ right to set federal immigration policy.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions traveled to California to tout the new lawsuit on Wednesday morning in a speech to law enforcement officials in Sacramento.

“The Department of Justice and the Trump administration are going to fight these unjust, unfair and unconstitutional policies that have been imposed on you,” Sessions told the California Peace Officers Association meeting. “We are fighting to make your jobs safer and to help you reduce crime in America. And I believe we are going to win.”

Sessions, who represented Alabama for two decades in the U.S. Senate, also compared California's defiance of federal immigration policy to southern states' long battle against the federal government over civil rights and desegregation.

"There is no nullification. There is no secession," Sessions told the local law enforcement officers. "Federal law is the supreme law of the land. I would invite any doubters to Gettysburg, and to the graves of John C. Calhoun and Abraham Lincoln."

California Gov. Jerry Brown and Attorney General Xavier Becerra, both of whom were named as defendants in the suit, denounced the Trump administration's action.

"At a time of unprecedented political turmoil, Jeff Sessions has come to California to further divide and polarize America. Jeff, these political stunts may be the norm in Washington, but they don’t work here. SAD!!!" Brown wrote on Twitter.

Becerra denied the suit's central claim that California is unlawfully undercutting federal immigration enforcement.

"We’re following the Constitution and federal law," the state attorney general said in a conference call with reporters. "We’re doing nothing to intrude in the work of the federal government to do immigration enforcement. We recognize and respect that the federal government has authority over immigration enforcement."

The state Senate leader, Kevin de León, said California won’t help federal officials “rip children from the arms of their mothers.”

“If U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions is suing California because we refuse to help the Trump administration tear apart honest, hard-working families, I say, ‘Bring it on,’” he told POLITICO. “Based on the U.S. Department of Justice’s track record, I like our odds.”

De León, who is campaigning to unseat U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, also cited crime statistics comparing California favorably to crime rates in Alabama, Sessions’ home state.

“Jeff Sessions would be better served to focus on his own backyard,” de León said.

Democratic Sen. Kamala Harris also ripped the lawsuit.

"Trump and Sessions think they can bully California — but it won't work," she tweeted.

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The Trump administration's lawsuit comes as top federal immigration officials are seething at California officials for appearing to aid those seeking to elude federal immigration laws. Just last week, the senior official at Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Thomas Homan, blasted Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf for warning residents about impending immigration raids. Homan said the move put officers at risk.

Sessions joined the attack on Schaaf Wednesday.

"Her actions support those who flout our laws and boldly validate the illegality. There’s no other way to interpret her remarks," the attorney general said.

He added that a direct message to Schaaf: “How dare you. How dare you needlessly endanger the lives of law enforcement just to promote your radical open borders agenda.”

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen lauded the decision to file the suit.

“California has chosen to purposefully contradict the will and the responsibility of the Congress to protect our homeland,” Nielsen said in a statement. “I appreciate the efforts of Attorney General Sessions and the Department of Justice to uphold the rule of law and protect American communities.”

Some Republicans immediately praised the lawsuit as putting the federal government's authority first.

"Homeland security and immigration is primarily a federal government responsibility," Oklahoma Sen. James Lankford tweeted. "To keep families safe and maintain an orderly immigration system, states must work with, not against, federal entities."

The new suit seeks a preliminary injunction against three specific California laws, claiming that they violate the Constitution’s supremacy clause, which limits states’ ability to legislate in areas reserved to Congress or where Congress has sought to play a controlling role.

One California law, SB 54, prohibits state and local officials from sharing information with immigration authorities under certain circumstances and also bars transfers of certain immigrants to federal custody. The suit argues that this law is not only unconstitutional, but also violates a specific federal statute on such information sharing.

Another of the state’s measures, AB 450, forbids private employers from cooperating with federal immigration enforcement at the workplace.

The third law, AB 103, seeks to regulate contract detention facilities used to hold federal immigration prisoners.

During a briefing for reporters on Tuesday, senior Justice Department officials said it was inconceivable that California would have passed such laws to interfere with criminal law enforcement agencies like the FBI. Federal immigration laws deserve to be treated with equal respect, said the officials, who spoke on condition that they not be identified or quoted.

Becerra said he had yet to see a copy of the complaint, but isn't surprised by the thrust of the administration's legal arguments.

"We've seen this B-rated movie before so I'm not totally surprised. ...There's nothing really new there that we weren't already familiar with. So, we're prepared to deal with this," the state attorney general said.

Becerra said California's policies bolster law enforcement by encouraging reporting of crime. He also repeated his past contentions that the Justice Department is trying to commandeer local officials into federal service, something the Supreme Court has said the Constitution prohibits.

"We've had to deal with the Trump administration's attacks on our state for trying to engage in public safety and not have our resources commandeered to force us to do their bidding on immigration enforcement," he said.

Justice Department officials would not say on Tuesday whether the suit had been discussed in advance with White House officials.

Justice Department reviews continue of policies in localities that have bucked federal immigration enforcement, the department officials said. The officials made clear that their attention was going beyond enforcement of federal grant conditions and that states and local governments could face legal action even if they didn’t receive Justice Department money.

By taking the suit to Sacramento, the Justice Department is avoiding some liberal federal judges in San Francisco and Los Angeles who have ruled against aspects of the administration’s immigration policies. The federal move likely blocks the state from trying to vindicate its laws by filing a suit in one of those districts. A Justice Department official said the suit was being filed in Sacramento because that is California’s capital.

In recent weeks, Sessions has railed against federal judges for issuing nationwide injunctions that control federal policy on issues like immigration.

The new suit does not seek a nationwide ruling, but does ask a single federal judge in Sacramento to issue a preliminary injunction that will apply statewide, barring enforcement of the three challenged laws anywhere in California even though the state has four federal judicial districts.

David Siders and Carla Marinucci contributed reporting to this story.