President Donald Trump on Monday signed a flurry of additional executive orders focused on immigration policies, including a specific order meant to call out so-called sanctuary cities, including many in the Bay Area, that he argues are violating federal law.
The move comes just days after a federal judge in San Francisco blocked Trump's effort to cut federal funding to those cities.
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WATCH HEREThe new order directs the Department of Justice to identify municipalities that "obstruct the enforcement of federal immigration laws."
Some legal experts called it a first step toward going after the cities in court.
"It's all sort of unclear," immigration lawyer Andrew Newcomb said. "Certainly the writing on the wall is alarming."
Newcomb said the end game with the Trump administration is to push every battle all the way to what he describes as the "Trump-friendly" Supreme Court.
San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu doubled down Monday.
"By way of doubling down, I'm doing what I need to as the city attorney of San Francisco to defend the rule of law, to defend what is legal and asking courts to determine yet again that what the Trump administration is doing in unconstitutional," Chiu said.
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