Jeff Sessions Promises To Blackmail Sanctuary Cities Only With Security Funding

These people couldn't be more cynical.

(Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

(Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Donald Trump’s executive order threatening “sanctuary cities” has been blocked because it’s overbroad. I mean, it’s also probably an unconstitutional assumption of the police power by the federal government, but also it’s overbroad. The order, as written, contemplates an executive that can withhold any number of federal funds, duly authorized by Congress, just because the president doesn’t like how the state or city behaves. If it was legal for the president to do this, then it would be legal for the next president to withhold funds from any state that didn’t vote for him or her in the next election.

On Monday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions asked the court to reconsider the executive order, based on his cross-my-heart, hope-to-die promise that he will threaten sanctuary cities only with funds within executive control. From the ABA Journal:

Sessions said the only funds that will be withheld under Trump’s order are federal grants administered by the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security. And Sessions defined sanctuary cities as those that willfully refuse to comply with a federal law requiring local jurisdictions to share immigration status information with federal authorities.

Going forward, however, the Justice Department “may seek to tailor grants to promote a lawful system of immigration,” Sessions wrote in the memo. The language raised the possibility that the grants will be tailored to encourage local governments to honor requests to detain immigrants for deportation, according to the press coverage.

First of all, “promises” emanating from the Trump administration deserve less deference than a 12-year-old’s promise to drive a Corvette responsibly.

But let’s engage in the farce of taking Sessions’s word for it.

Sessions is explicitly saying that, in order to force sanctuary cities to do the federal government’s bidding to punish immigrants, he’s going to withhold SECURITY FUNDING from cities susceptible to terrorist attacks. Think about how cynical that is: the White House argues that we need an immigration crackdown to prevent terrorism, and to get it they’re going to withhold funds that protect us from terrorism.

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If that isn’t evidence to you that Sessions, Trump, and the people who support them are in this for the rank bigotry and NOT for keeping our country safe, I don’t know what is.

Sessions interprets Trump order on sanctuary cities narrowly; DOJ asks court to reconsider ruling [ABA Journal]

Earlier:


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Elie Mystal is an editor of Above the Law and the Legal Editor for More Perfect. He can be reached @ElieNYC on Twitter, or at elie@abovethelaw.com. He will resist.