Chicago sues Justice Department over sanctuary cities threat
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Updated: The city of Chicago has sued the U.S. Justice Department over its threat to withhold federal grant money to sanctuary cities.
The suit, filed Monday in Chicago federal court, claims new conditions placed on public safety grants are “unauthorized and unconstitutional.” The conditions also “fly in the face of longstanding city policy” promoting police cooperation with immigrants, the suit says.
The conditions, announced in a July press release by the Justice Department, require cities to give federal immigration officials 48 hours’ notice before releasing an inmate wanted on an immigration detainer. The conditions also require cities to give federal immigration officials unrestricted access to detention facilities to interrogate suspected noncitizens, “effectively federalizing all of the city’s detention facilities,” the suit says.
Chicago ordinance bars police from providing immigration agents’ access to local jails unless the detainees are wanted on a criminal warrant or have a serious criminal record, the Chicago Tribune reports.
The suit says the conditions, placed on Edward Byrne Justice Assistance grants, are inconsistent with the grant statute. The conditions are also inconsistent with Fourth Amendment and spending clause limitations, and with separation of powers principles, the suit claims.
“The executive branch of the federal government may not arrogate to itself the powers that our Constitution reserves to Congress, on the one hand, or to state and local governments on the other,” the suit says. The government can’t “unilaterally concoct and import into” the grant program “sweeping new policy conditions that were never approved (and indeed were considered and rejected) by Congress and that would federalize local jails and police stations, mandate warrantless detentions in order to investigate for federal civil infractions, sow fear in local immigrant communities, and ultimately make the people of Chicago less safe.”
Chicago is in compliance with federal law that bars local governments from restricting the sharing of immigration status with federal immigration agents, the suit says. The city doesn’t collect such information “and thus there is no information for the city to share,” according to the suit.
The Justice Department is requiring agreement to the new conditions by Sept. 5, putting the city in an “untenable position,” according to the suit.
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel told reporters on Sunday that the city would file the suit, report the Chicago Tribune, the Washington Post and the Chicago Sun-Times.
The law firms filing the suit pro bono on behalf of Chicago are Riley Safer and WilmerHale. One of the lawyers listed on the suit is Jamie Gorelick of WilmerHale, who is no longer representing Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, in investigations into Russia and the presidential campaign.
Justice Department spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores issued a statement in advance of the lawsuit filing. “In 2016, more Chicagoans were murdered than in New York City and Los Angeles combined. So it’s especially tragic that the mayor is less concerned with that staggering figure than he is spending time and taxpayer money protecting criminal aliens and putting Chicago’s law enforcement at greater risk,” she told the Sun-Times.
Hat tip to the Marshall Project.
See also:
ABAJournal.com: “Sessions interprets Trump order on sanctuary cities narrowly; DOJ asks court to reconsider ruling”
Updated at 12:17 p.m. to include link to lawsuit in second paragaph.
