In a press release announcing the Trump Administration’s lawsuit against L.A. on Monday, Attorney General Pamela Bondi blamed L.A.’s sanctuary city policies as “the driving cause” of the “chaos” during the anti-ICE protests in the city earlier this month.

The Justice Department is suing the city of Los Angeles over its so-called “sanctuary city” policy passed in the weeks following Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential election victory that prevents city resources from going toward immigration enforcement.

The lawsuit, filed in California’s Central District federal court, accuses sanctuary cities such as L.A. of hindering efforts to address a 'crisis of illegal immigration.'