While the city and county of San Francisco have repeatedly gone to court to challenge President Donald Trump's efforts to financially penalize so-called “sanctuary cities” for refusing to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement agencies, San Francisco faces an immigration-related lawsuit of its own.

Taxpayer Cynthia Cerletti sued San Francisco Sheriff Vicki Hennessy and the San Francisco Sheriff's Department earlier this year in state court seeking a declaration that the sheriff has flouted federal immigration laws by refusing to allow employees to share the release dates of suspected deportable aliens with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials.

At a hearing on the city's motion to knock out most of Cerletti's claims, San Francisco Superior Court Judge Harold Kahn said the case raised “very interesting issues of federal pre-emption and legislative interpretation.”