US Attorney General Jeff Sessions today warned of serious consequences for cities that knowingly refuse to detain undocumented immigrants, saying they could lose federal funding for failing to cooperate with immigration authorities.
US Attorney General Jeff Sessions today warned of serious consequences for cities that knowingly refuse to detain undocumented immigrants, saying they could lose federal funding for failing to cooperate with immigration authorities.
"The Department of Justice will also take all lawful steps to claw-back any funds awarded to a jurisdiction that wilfully violates (the relevant section)...In the current fiscal year, department's...anticipate awarding more than USD 4.1 billion dollars in grants," Sessions told reporters at a White House news conference.
Sessions said cities that knowingly refuse to detain undocumented immigrants who are "known felons under federal detainer requests" will face consequences from the Department of Justice.
"I urge our nation's states and cities to consider carefully the harm they are doing to their citizens by refusing to enforce our immigration laws, and to re-think these policies. Such policies make their cities and states less safe, and put them at risk of losing valuable federal dollars," he said, making his first appearance in the White House briefing room after becoming the Attorney General.
Sessions cited guidance issued under the Obama administration about how law enforcement officials should handle undocumented immigrants with criminal histories in his description of the Trump administration's priorities for deportations.
"What I'm saying today is that essentially the policies of the Obama administration that were issued last July make clear that you should not be receiving certain federal funds if you're not in compliance with (Section) 1373," he said in response to a question.
"We believe that grants in the future could be issued that have additional requirements, as every grant that's being issued in America today usually has a requirement that if you qualify for this grant, you have to meet certain requirements," he added.
"So we'll be looking at that in the future, and we'll continue to pursue it. But fundamentally we intend to use all the lawful authority we have to make sure that our state and local officials, who are so important to law enforcement, are in sync with the federal government," Sessions said.
The Attorney General said the vast majority of the American people support this requirement.
According to one recent poll, 80 per cent of Americans believe that cities that arrest illegal immigrants for crimes should be required to turn them over to immigration authorities.
"Unfortunately, some states and cities have adopted policies designed to frustrate the enforcement of our immigration laws. This includes refusing to detain known felons under federal detainer requests, or otherwise failing to comply with these laws," he rued.
Indian-American Congresswoman from Washington State Pramila Jayapal alleged that Trump administration s latest attack on sanctuary cities is nothing more than political posturing based on alternative facts.
"The vast majority of these cities follow the law cited by the Attorney General to justify his crackdown. The idea that more welcoming policies make these cities less safe is absolutely ridiculous. The government's own data shows that the crime rate is lower in sanctuary jurisdictions than their non-sanctuary counterparts," she said.
(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)
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