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Little Dutch Boy trying to plug the dam leak with a finger? |
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Dam Leak. |
The Trump administration intensified its threats to crack down on
so-called sanctuary cities that refuse to comply with federal
immigration authorities, warning nine jurisdictions Friday that they may
lose coveted law enforcement grant money unless they document
cooperation.
It sent letters to officials in California and major
cities including New York, Chicago, Philadelphia and New Orleans, all
places the Justice Department's inspector general has identified as
limiting the information local law enforcement can provide to federal
immigration authorities about those in their custody.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions has warned that the
administration will punish communities that refuse to cooperate with
efforts to find and deport immigrants in the country illegally. But some
of the localities remained defiant, despite risking the loss of funds
that police agencies use to pay for everything from body cameras to
bulletproof vests.
"We're not going to cave to these threats," Milwaukee
County Supervisor Marina Dimitrijevic said, promising a legal fight if
the money is pulled.
CALIFORNIA GOP MOVES FORWARD WITH PLAN TO PUNISH SANCTUARY CITIES
Playing off Sessions' recent comments that sanctuary
cities undermine the fight against gangs, the Justice Department said
the communities under financial threat are "crumbling under the weight
of illegal immigration and violent crime."
After a raid led to the arrests of 11 MS-13 gang
members in California's Bay Area "city officials seemed more concerned
with reassuring illegal immigrants that the raid was unrelated to
immigration than with warning other MS-13 members that they were next,"
the department said in a statement.
The federal law in question says state and local
governments may not prohibit police or sheriffs from sharing information
about a person's immigration status with federal authorities.
The money could be withheld in the future, or
terminated, if local officials fail to prove they are following the law,
wrote Alan R. Hanson, acting head of the Office of Justice Programs.
The grant program is the leading source of federal justice funding to
states and local communities.
Kevin de Leon, leader of California's state Senate,
rejected the administration's demand, saying its policies are based on
"principles of white supremacy" and not American values.
"Their constant and systematic targeting of diverse
cities and states goes beyond constitutional norms and will be
challenged at every level," he said.
Leaders in Chicago and Cook County, which shared a
grant of more than $2.3 million in 2016, dismissed the threat. So did
the mayor's office in New York City, which received $4.3 million. The
Justice Department singled out Chicago's rise in homicides and said New
York's gang killings were the "predictable consequence of the city's
soft-on-crime stance."
"This grandstanding shows how out of touch the Trump
administration is with reality," said Seith Stein, a spokesman for the
New York City mayor's office, calling the comments "alternative facts."
Crime is low thanks to policies that encourage police cooperation with
immigrant communities, he said.
The jurisdictions also include Clark County, Nevada; Miami-Dade County, Florida; and Milwaukee County, Wisconsin.
They were singled out in a May 2016 report by the
Justice Department's inspector general that found local policies or
rules could interfere with providing information to immigration agents.
Following the report, the Obama administration warned cities that they
could miss out on grant money if they did not comply with the law, but
it never actually withheld funds.
The report pointed to a Milwaukee County rule that
immigration detention requests be honored only if the person has been
convicted of one felony or two misdemeanors, has been charged with
domestic violence or drunken driving, is a gang member, or is on a
terrorist watch list, among other constraints.
It also took issue with a New Orleans Police
Department policy that it said might hinder communication with
Immigration and Customs Enforcement. That city received nearly $266,000
in grant money through the program in fiscal year 2016. New Orleans has
used Justice Department funding to pay for testing DNA kits, police body
cameras, attorneys for domestic violence victims and other expenses.
Zach Butterworth, Mayor Mitch Landrieu's executive
counsel and director of federal relations, said the city drafted its
policies in consultation with federal immigration and Homeland Security
officials. It was reviewing the Justice Department's letter.
"We don't think there's a problem," he said.
Butterworth said the New Orleans Police Department
has seen a 28 percent drop in calls for service from people with limited
English since November.
"People are scared, and because of that, they're less willing to report crime," Butterworth added.
Other places also insisted they were in compliance.
Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo, the elected head of the Las Vegas
Metropolitan Police Department, said the city and county were wrongly
labeled sanctuary cities.
Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele said that community is hardly succumbing to violence.
"Milwaukee County has its challenges but they are not
caused by illegal immigration," he said in a statement. "My far greater
concern is the proactive dissemination of misinformation, fear, and
intolerance."