San Francisco — A US judge on Thursday refused to revisit a court order that blocks President Donald Trump’s administration from carrying out a policy designed to threaten the granting of federal funds to so-called sanctuary cities. US district judge William Orrick III in San Francisco ruled that a recent memo from the justice department that appeared to narrow the scope of Trump’s executive order on sanctuary cities did not remove the need for a court-ordered injunction. Orrick wrote that the memo is not binding and the attorney-general can revoke it at any time. A justice department spokesperson could not immediately be reached for comment. Trump issued the order in January, shortly after he was inaugurated, directing that funding be slashed to all jurisdictions that refuse to comply with a statute that requires local governments to share information with US immigration authorities. Sanctuary cities generally offer safe harbour to illegal immigrants and often do not use municipal ...

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