New Haven asks federal court to dismiss lawsuit challenging its Welcoming City policies

New Haven announced July 6 that it is asking a federal court to dismiss a Trump administration lawsuit challenging the city’s Welcoming City executive order and public-safety policies.

The city described the case as a challenge to local authority that reaches beyond New Haven. Its request seeks to preserve the city’s ability to maintain its own Welcoming City and public-safety policies while the federal case proceeds.

What New Haven is challenging

According to the city’s announcement, the administration’s lawsuit targets New Haven’s Welcoming City executive order as well as local public-safety laws. The available record does not include the case number, the filing date, the complaint or the administration’s specific legal claims.

New Haven’s action is a request for dismissal, not a court decision. The source record does not establish whether the federal court had decided that request as of Aug. 2.

The city said courts had continued siding with local governments in related disputes over local authority. However, the available material does not provide the underlying case history or identify any final ruling relevant to New Haven’s Welcoming City case.

Why the case matters

The dispute concerns how much authority New Haven can retain over local immigration-enforcement and public-safety policies while facing a federal challenge. The city has framed that question as one with potential implications for local governments nationwide.

The city’s July 6 announcement identifies the Welcoming City executive order and public-safety laws as the policies at issue, but it does not detail how the lawsuit would affect particular city agencies, residents or programs if it moved forward.

Separate federal-fund case

The Welcoming City lawsuit is separate from another case in which New Haven said it was one of five plaintiffs challenging issues involving a federal fund valued at $1.776 billion. On June 12, New Haven announced that it had celebrated a preliminary injunction in that separate litigation.

That preliminary injunction does not resolve the lawsuit over the Welcoming City policies. The next known step in the latter matter is the federal court’s consideration of New Haven’s dismissal request; no decision date or deadline was provided in the available record.