Chicago Mayor who used to be Obama’s old chief of staff will sue Donald Trump for withholding money from sanctuary cities – and California may follow suit
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is suing to get $3.2m in justice assistant grants
Attorney General Jeff Sessions said he’s going to pull funding to sanctuary cities
Emanuel said Chicago would not ‘auction off our values’ and would file Monday
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra is also considering suing Trump
Sessions sent out letters to two cities in California, among others, last week
Those letters warned of the plan to pull funding from uncooperative cities
DAILYMAIL.COM
5 August 2017
hicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has announced that he will sue the federal government after the Trump administration threatened to withhold US grant funds.
The Democrat, who is also the former chief of staff for Barack Obama, said that the city will argue in court that grants can’t be withheld from cities as punishment for not cooperating enough with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials.
‘We’re not going to actually auction off our values as a city, so Monday morning the City of Chicago is going to court, we’re going to take the Justice Department to court based on this,’ Emanuel said.
‘We find it unlawful and unconstitutional to be, as a city, coerced on a policy.’
The mayor made the remarks in an interview with local radio station WLS radio-890 that will air on Sunday.
His threat comes after last month’s announcement by Attorney General Jeff Sessions that local governments would lose the money if they do not give advance notice when immigrants in the country illegally are about to be released from custody.
Sessions also wants immigration agents to have access to local jails.
Officials say Chicago this year expects to receive $3.2 million in Byrne Justice Assistance Grants. The money would mostly be used to buy police vehicles.
Emanuel could be joined in his mission by the state of California; the state’s attorney general, Xavier Becerra, is also considering suing the Trump administration, the Sacramento Bee reported.
Becerra and other attorneys in the state are considering making a case that the federal government is violating the Constitution.
”The cities and states affected by these provisions have strong arguments to make in court that these conditions are illegal,’ a former Justice Department official told the Bee.
‘If Congress wanted these requirements to be part of the grant funding decision, they would have written it into the law.’
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