A federal court judge has dismissed a case brought by the Trump administration against the city of Rochester over its sanctuary status with prejudice, meaning the White House can't refile the same claim.
On Tuesday, Judge Frank Geraci ruled that the Department of Justice had failed to state a valid claim against the city.
“Once again, grandstanding of the Trump Administration has been found to be without any legal legitimacy,” Mayor Malik Evans said in a statement. “The City of Rochester remains committed to guaranteeing public safety for all, not being coerced into doing the federal government’s work of immigration enforcement.”
The DOJ sued the city, naming Mayor Malik Evans and City Council President Miguel Meléndez, on three counts. It alleged the city's policy to not aid or cooperate with federal immigration enforcement violated the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution, which sets federal law as the highest law of the land; that the policy discriminated against the federal government; and that the law obstructed federal immigration policy.
"Lake Ontario is going to be Lake Ontario, just as the city of Rochester is going to be a sanctuary city,"
Meléndez said, at a news conference Wednesday. "No executive order, no lawsuit will change our posture."
Geraci, in his decision, rejected all of those claims.
"Rochester’s Sanctuary City laws and policies are not a prohibition on or interference with the federal government’s role in enforcing immigration policy," he wrote. "Instead, they simply recognize the different functions of each governmental body.
"Specifically, the Sanctuary City laws and policies only dictate that Rochester Police Department and other Rochester employees cannot participate in civil immigration enforcement," he continued. "As such, they do not dictate how the federal government must act and therefore do not violate the intergovernmental immunity doctrine."
The lawsuit from the DOJ stems from a March 2025 incident in which 10 Rochester police officers aided federal immigration officers in arresting three roofers originally from Guatemala. Those officers were briefly taken off the street to receive additional training.
In August of last year, the Rochester City Council voted to adopt a new sanctuary policy, which prompted Geraci to dismiss the federal government's initial lawsuit without prejudice. That allowed the federal government to refile and address the new policy. At the time he advised the DOJ that it could refile, but it needed to more clearly state its position on Rochester's policy. The DOJ filed a nearly identical claim against the new policy in December.
The DOJ had filed for permission to amend its claim against the city earlier this year, a motion which is typically given freely in federal court cases. Geraci denied them the chance to amend the complaint, stating it would be "futile" due to “repeated failure to cure deficiencies by amendments previously allowed.”
Rochester's sanctuary city policy does not prevent federal immigration enforcement agencies from operating in the city. Rather, it forbids city employees, including police, from aiding in immigration actions, providing information to immigration enforcement, or otherwise discriminating based on citizenship status.
Consequences for employees who violate the policy include termination.
