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DOJ Threatens to Cut Off Sanctuary Cities from Federal Funding

<p class&equals;"MsoNormal" style&equals;"text-align&colon; left&semi;" align&equals;"center">10 sanctuaries cities trying to challenge President Donald Trump&rsquo&semi;s strict immigration policies have received warnings from Attorney General Jeff Sessions that they may be in violation of federal law&period; &nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"MsoNormal">The Department of Justice is requesting documents proving that these cities are complying with the law or they could lose their federal funding&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"MsoNormal">&ldquo&semi;Last year&comma; the Obama administration sent out notices that people had to comply with this cooperative language in the law that was passed several years ago&comma;&rdquo&semi; said Sessions on <em style&equals;"mso-bidi-font-style&colon; normal&semi;">Fox News Network&rsquo&semi;s Fox &amp&semi; Friends&period; <&sol;em>&ldquo&semi;And we sent out a letter today to 10 cities that the Inspector General&rsquo&semi;s office last year said were potentially in violation of the law involving deportation in sanctuary cities&period; We expect them to respond&period; If they don&rsquo&semi;t respond&comma; they should not receive the grants because the grants were issued on condition of cooperation&period;&rdquo&semi;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"MsoNormal">These cities have until June 30 to respond with evidence proving they are not violating any laws&period; <span style&equals;"mso-spacerun&colon; yes&semi;">&nbsp&semi;<&sol;span>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"MsoNormal">The DOJ said previously that these communities are &ldquo&semi;crumbling under the weight of illegal immigration and violent crime&period;&rdquo&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"MsoNormal">It looks as though these cities&rsquo&semi; are focusing more on protecting illegal immigrations&period; After a raid in California Bay&comma; where 11 MS-13 gang members were arrested&comma; the DOJ pointed out that &ldquo&semi;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&period;&rdquo&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"MsoNormal">Even with Sessions&rsquo&semi; recent threat&comma; some of these cities are remaining defiant&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"MsoNormal">&ldquo&semi;We&rsquo&semi;re not going to cave to these threats&comma; said Marina Dimitrijevic&comma; Milwaukee Country Supervisor&comma; who is ready for a legal fight if funds are pulled&period; &nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"MsoNormal">Milwaukee is one of the counties discovered to have especially relax immigration rules&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"MsoNormal">&ldquo&semi;The jurisdictions also include Clark County&comma; Nevada&semi; Miami-Dade County&comma; Florida&semi; and&nbsp&semi;Milwaukee&nbsp&semi;County&comma; Wisconsin&period; They were singled out in a May 2016 report by the&nbsp&semi;Justice Department&rsquo&semi;s inspector general that found local policies or rules could interfere with providing information to immigration agents&period; Following the report&comma; the Obama administration warned cities that they could miss out on grant money if they did not comply with the law&comma; but it never actually withheld funds&comma;&rdquo&semi; writes <em style&equals;"mso-bidi-font-style&colon; normal&semi;">The Washington Times&period; <&sol;em>&ldquo&semi;The report pointed to a&nbsp&semi;Milwaukee&nbsp&semi;County rule that immigration detention requests be honored only if the person has been convicted of one felony or two misdemeanors&comma; has been charged with domestic violence or drunken driving&comma; is a gang member&comma; or is on a terrorist watch list&comma; among other constraints&period;&rdquo&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"MsoNormal">So what law is creating a rift between local and federal government&quest;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"MsoNormal">&ldquo&semi;The federal law in question says state and local governments may not prohibit police or sheriffs from sharing information about a person&rsquo&semi;s immigration status with federal authorities&comma;&rdquo&semi; writes <em style&equals;"mso-bidi-font-style&colon; normal&semi;">The Washington Times&period;<&sol;em> &ldquo&semi;The money could be withheld in the future&comma; or terminated&comma; if local officials fail to prove they are following the law&comma; wrote Alan R&period; Hanson&comma; acting head of the Office of Justice Programs&period; The grant program is the leading source of federal justice funding to states and local communities&period;&rdquo&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"MsoNormal">John Kelly&comma; Homeland Security Secretary intensified his rhetoric about the immigration problem and said that if local police refuse to deliver people in custody&comma; immigration agents will get involved&period; &nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"MsoNormal">&ldquo&semi;Ideally the best place for us to pick up these illegal criminals is in jails and prisons&comma;&rdquo&semi; said Kelly at a news conference with Sessions in San Diego&period; &ldquo&semi;If they don&rsquo&semi;t do that&comma; then we have to go into neighborhoods&period; We have to go into courthouses&period; We have to go wherever we can find them and apprehend them&period;&rdquo&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"MsoNormal">Kevin de Leon&comma; leader of California&rsquo&semi;s state Senate was quick to reject this DOJ demand&period; &nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"MsoNormal">&ldquo&semi;Their constant and systematic targeting of diverse cities and states goes beyond constitutional norms and will be challenged at every level&comma;&rdquo&semi; said de Leon&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"MsoNormal">&dollar;29 million in law enforcement aid is at stake if all the cities don&rsquo&semi;t comply&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"MsoNormal"><strong>Author&rsquo&semi;s note&colon;<&sol;strong> It&rsquo&semi;s not a smart move for these cities to stand against the federal government in this case&period; With Neil Gorsuch as the new justice of the Supreme Court&comma; the Trump Administration will likely win these arguments now&period; Not to mention&comma; the crime in these areas will skyrocket even more without federal funding&period; Why should legal U&period;S&period; citizens be punished because their city&rsquo&semi;s government is more concerned about protecting illegal immigrants&quest;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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