Chicago sues Trump's Justice Department over sanctuary city funding

Chicago [USA], Aug 8 (ANI): Chicago has sued United States President Donald Trump's Justice Department over its plan to withhold enforcement grant funds from so-called sanctuary cities.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel's Law Department on Monday filed a lawsuit filed in a U.S. District Court to prevent Trump administration from enforcing new policies that would withhold money from so-called sanctuary cities that deny U.S. immigration officials the access to local jails.

Reacting to the lawsuit filed by Chicago's Mayor, the Justice Department (DoJ) said that last year more people were killed in Chicago than New York and Los Angeles combined and alleged that the Mayor was protecting criminal aliens and putting the city's law enforcement at greater risk.

Emanuel said on Sunday that Trump's policy would damage efforts to tamp down crime, as people in the city without documentation would t be afraid to cooperate with police.

Describing U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions' new policy as unlawful and unconstitutional, Emanuel it was an effort to set precedent that could result in the withholding of further grant money.

Under the new Justice Department policy, contained in conditions attached last week to applications for Edward Byrne Justice Assistance Grant funding, the city would have to meet three conditions to receive funds that the city has used in the past to buy police vehicles and other equipment.

The conditions: sharing immigration status information with federal officials enforcing deportation laws, providing unlimited police station access to those officials, and giving the officials 48-hours notice of an arrested person's release in cases of potential immigration violations.

"These new conditions - which would give federal officials the power to enter city facilities and interrogate arrestees at will and would force the city to detain individuals longer than justified by probable cause, solely to permit federal officials to investigate their immigration status - are unauthorized and unconstitutional," the Chicago Tribune quoted the lawsuit as saying.

The lawsuit added that neither federal law nor the United States Constitution permits the attorney general to force Chicago to abandon its policy of promoting cooperation between local law enforcement and immigrant communities, ensuring access to essential city services for all residents and makes all Chicagoans safer. (ANI)

This story has not been edited. It has been published as provided by ANI