Another legal blow to President Donald Trump's immigration policies, but the number of border crossings is still down since he took office.
First it was the president's travel moratorium from Muslim countries, now a judge has blocked his attempt to withhold federal funding to sanctuary cities.
"The cities in question chose a judge they knew would give them a favorable ruling, which is a very frequent tactic that they use, but it doesn't mean that in the end the administration won't prevail," says Ira Mehlman, spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform.
The Texas attorney general is now appealing a judge's decision.
"It's perfectly reasonable for the Department of Justice to say that if you're going to impede the enforcement of federal immigration laws, you should not be eligible for these federal grants from the DOJ," says Mehlman.
Meanwhile, border crossings are down while deportations continue to rise.
Federal agents arrested more than 21,000 criminal aliens from January through mid-March, compared with 16,000 during the same period last year.
Arrests of immigrants with no criminal records more than doubled in that period.
The number of refugees entering the United States has fallen from nearly 10,000 last October to fewer than 2,500 in April.