San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu is gearing up for his biggest fight yet: protecting one of the country’s most progressive cities against President-elect Donald Trump.
The 54-year-old is expected to play a prominent role in the campaign to keep Trump at bay if the incoming president makes good on his word to go after sanctuary cities if they fail to fall in line.
The legal resistance for Democrats is likely to be tougher this time around since Trump and his staff have learned from the mistakes they made during his first term. The Trump administration also has the upper hand in Congress, where Republicans control both chambers and a majority in the Supreme Court.
“Trump has said he is going to go after anyone and any jurisdictions that do not do what he wants and has suggested everything up to criminal prosecutions,” Chiu said in an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle. “So there’s a lot of concern around the country around what that means. But … we have to stand up for our communities, and we will.”
Chiu has already started working with cities and counties across the state in anticipation of what might happen after Trump is sworn in on Jan. 20, 2025.
Chiu has also appointed a deputy city attorney to focus solely on Trump-related legal matters. Chiu is among a group of attorneys across California who have asked the state legislature to free up $10 million for the cause.
He told the news outlet he would fight to protect the legal status of anyone born in the United States, regardless of their parent’s legal status. Trump has railed for years against birthright citizenship, which is protected by the 14th Amendment.
“We’re gonna have to get it changed … but we have to end it,” he told NBC’s Kristen Welker. “If we can, through executive action. I was going to do it through executive action, but then we have to fix Covid first, to be honest with you.”
The 14th Amendment, which was ratified in 1868, guarantees citizenship to anyone born in the country.
“All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside,” says the Constitution.
Despite this, Trump said he would try to end birthright citizenship through an executive order “if we can.”
Chiu said he was ready to take Trump on and underscored the importance of immigrants.
“Personally, as a son of immigrants, the threat to our immigrant communities could not be more intense … Our economy is based on our immigrant populations,” he said. “If he were to overturn birthright citizenship, it would be catastrophic for our city, our state, and our country.”
Chiu’s predecessor, Dennis Herrera, succeeded in several legal battles against Trump.
In January 2017, Trump’s first month as president, Herrera filed a lawsuit against an executive order Trump signed attempting to withhold federal funds from sanctuary cities, such as San Francisco, that restrict cooperation with federal immigration authorities. The suit was successful, and Trump was never able to enforce the plan spelled out in the order.
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Chiu’s fight isn’t limited to immigrants’ rights. He is preparing to push back on vaccinations, reproductive rights, LGBTQ rights, and climate change.
“These are not the fights that we wanted to have, but if Trump brings the fight to our doorsteps, we will do what we need to do to defend our city and our people,” Chiu said.