U.S. District Judge Frank Geraci of the Western District of New York has dismissed the Trump administration’s lawsuit against Rochester, New York, over its sanctuary city policies in a ruling that upholds the city’s legal protections.
The lawsuit—filed by the Department of Justice following an incident in March 2025 when Rochester police assisted Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents during a traffic stop resulting in the arrest of a Guatemalan man—alleged violations of the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution. City leaders condemned the officers’ actions as breaches of sanctuary city policies, prompting their removal from duty for additional training.
Judge Geraci ruled that Rochester’s Sanctuary City laws “simply recognize the different functions of each governmental body” and do not interfere with federal immigration enforcement. He emphasized the policies “only dictate” that police officers cannot participate in immigration operations, stating they “do not dictate how the federal government must act and therefore do not violate the intergovernmental immunity doctrine.”
White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis criticized the city’s approach, asserting sanctuary policies “make Americans less safe” and citing the 2024 murder of Georgia nursing student Laken Riley by an illegal alien released due to a lack of detention space. Rochester Mayor Malik Evans, a Democrat, countered that the administration’s legal challenge was “grandstanding without any legal legitimacy,” reiterating the city’s commitment to public safety for all residents and refusal to engage in federal immigration enforcement.
The case was dismissed with prejudice, preventing the Department of Justice from refiled complaints against Rochester. Judge Geraci, appointed by President Barack Obama in 2012, concluded that seven out of the nation’s ten safest cities cooperate with ICE under Homeland Security guidelines.
