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Judge Rules Justice Department Can’t Withhold Funding From Sanctuary Cities
In April, so-called "Sanctuary Cities" listed in a 2016 report for not complying fully with federal immigration authorities were issued letters by the Department of Justice to get in line or lose funding. Fortunately, in what's become a pattern for a White House acting out of turn, a federal judge has stepped in.
A federal judge on [September 15th] blocked the Justice Department from withholding grant funds from places that do not provide immigration authorities access to local jails or give advance notice when suspected illegal immigrants are to be released — dealing a major blow to the Trump administration’s vowed crackdown on sanctuary cities.
....Attorney General Jeff Sessions had probably exceeded his lawful authority when he imposed new conditions on particular law enforcement grants, requiring recipients to give immigration authorities access to jails and notice when suspected illegal immigrants are to be released.
The judge blocked Sessions from implementing the conditions not just on the city of Chicago — which had sued over the matter — but also across the nation, writing that there was “no reason to think that the legal issues present in this case are restricted to Chicago or that the statutory authority given to the Attorney General would differ in another jurisdiction.”