Trump administration presses 'sanctuary
cities' for documents
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[January 25, 2018]
By Sarah N. Lynch
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald
Trump's administration on Wednesday escalated its battle with so-called
sanctuary cities that protect illegal immigrants from deportation,
demanding documents on whether local law enforcement agencies are
illegally withholding information from U.S. immigration authorities.
The Justice Department said it was seeking records from 23 jurisdictions
-- including America's three largest cities, New York, Los Angeles and
Chicago, as well as three states, California, Illinois and Oregon -- and
will issue subpoenas if they do not comply fully and promptly.
The administration has accused sanctuary cities of violating a federal
law that prohibits local governments from restricting information about
the immigration status of people arrested from being shared with the
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency.

Many of the jurisdictions have said they already are in full compliance
with the law. Some sued the administration after the Justice Department
threatened to cut off millions of dollars in federal public safety
grants. The cities have won in lower courts, but the legal fight is
ongoing.
The Republican president's fight with the Democratic-governed sanctuary
cities, an issue that appeals to his hard-line conservative supporters,
began just days after he took office last year when he signed an
executive order saying he would block certain funding to municipalities
that failed to cooperate with federal immigration authorities. The order
has since been partially blocked by a federal court.
"Protecting criminal aliens from federal immigration authorities defies
common sense and undermines the rule of law," Attorney General Jeff
Sessions said in a statement.
Democratic mayors fired back. Some including New York Mayor Bill de
Blasio, Denver Mayor Michael Hancock and New Orleans Mayor Mitch
Landrieu protested by skipping a previously planned White House meeting
on Wednesday with Trump.
"This is a destructive ploy by the Trump administration's lawyers to
politicize a routine exchange of information," Hancock said. "I refuse
to meet with the president under these kinds of threats and
fearmongering."
'DRIVE A WEDGE'
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel added, "The Trump administration's actions
undermine public safety by jeopardizing our philosophy of community
policing, as they attempt to drive a wedge between immigrant communities
and the police who serve them."
De Blasio accused the administration of renewing "a racist assault on
our immigrant communities."
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U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions speaks on the growing trend of
violent crime in sanctuary cities during an event on the Port of
Miami in Miami, Florida, U.S. on, August 16, 2017. REUTERS/Joe
Skipper/File Photo

White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said mayors cannot "pick and
choose what laws they want to follow."
Other jurisdictions on the Justice Department's list included:
Denver; San Francisco; the Washington state county that includes
Seattle; Louisville, Kentucky; California's capital Sacramento; New
York's capital Albany, Mississippi's capital Jackson; West Palm
Beach, Florida; the county that includes Albuquerque, New Mexico;
and others.
In the 2016 fiscal year, the 23 jurisdictions received about $39
million in the public safety grants, which are now jeopardized in
the current dispute. Fiscal 2017 grants have been stalled in the
ongoing legal fight.
The Justice Department said certain sanctuary cities such as
Philadelphia were not on its list due to pending litigation.
The issue is part of Trump's broader immigration crackdown. As a
candidate, he threatened to deport all roughly 11 million of them.
As president, he has sought to step up arrests of illegal
immigrants, rescinded protections for hundreds of thousands of
immigrants brought into the country illegally as children and issued
orders blocking entry of people from several Muslim-majority
countries.
The Justice Department last year threatened to withhold the public
safety grants if sanctuary cities failed to adequately share
information with ICE, prompting legal battles in Chicago, San
Francisco and Philadelphia.


In the Chicago case, a federal judge issued a nationwide injunction,
which the administration is appealing, barring the Justice
Department from withholding this grant money, which is typically
used to help local police improve crime-fighting techniques, buy
equipment and assist crime victims.
(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch and Makini Brice; Additional reporting
by Eric Walsh; Editing by Will Dunham)
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