Alan Hanson, the acting assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's grant-making arm, warned the cities that they are required by law to provide proof to they are complying with federal immigration law.
"Their constant and systematic targeting of diverse cities and states goes beyond constitutional norms and will be challenged at every level", he said.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and NYPD Commissioner James O'Neill are lashing out after the the Trump administration intensified its threats to crack down on so-called sanctuary cities and claimed that New York City is "soft on crime".
The Department of Justice sent letters Friday to nine separate jurisdictions that were identified in May 2016 by the DOJ's Inspector General as having laws that potentially violate federal law on immigration enforcement.
Officials there must provide proof from an attorney that they are following the law.
President Donald Trump has vowed to strip federal funds from dozens of state and local governments that do not fully cooperate with U.S. immigration agents, arguing they endanger public safety when they decline to hand over for deportation illegal immigrants who are arrested for crimes.
In response to the press release sent by the DOJ, Chris Abele said "This is language that encourages people to mistakenly think and conflate immigration with crime".
Scott Pruitt to East Chicago Residents: Chicago EPA Office Not Closing
Another EPA contractor admitted he watched pornography on a government computer for 18 years, the inspector general said . Eleven of the remaining families have found new homes and are in the process of moving, according to HUD.
"The Justice Department announced Friday that "New York City continues to see gang murder after gang murder" due to its "'soft on crime' stance".
(2) Sanctuary cities tend to be safer than those with draconian policies toward the undocumented.
Albuquerque, Las Cruces and Santa Fe officials said they don't believe their cities will be singled out. The targeted jurisdictions also include Clark County, Nevada; Cook County, Illinois; Miami-Dade County, Florida; and Milwaukee County, Wisconsin.
"The Executive Order makes clear that the federal government would use its discretion and that they would be cautious about cutting law enforcement funding", the city says in a fact sheet on immigration and sanctuary cities. The Justice Department wants documents proving each is following immigration law by June 30. "For this reason, we do not anticipate any budgetary impacts as a result of reduction in federal revenues, and continue to plan our budget preparations accordingly". It's a broad term applied to jurisdictions that limit cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.
"So I hope we don't end into a fight, but we're perfectly willing to do whatever I can to ensure that we have the kind of unified effort that protects America", he said, according to an MSNBC report. Richard Shelby, R-Ala.; Sessions had been the other Alabama senator until he took the helm at the Justice Department.
Cooperation with federal immigration authorities can mean holding arrestees for an additional 48 hours, long enough to give immigration officers time to check the person's legal status and take them into federal custody and deport them, if they are in the USA illegally. "My far greater concern is the proactive dissemination of misinformation, fear, and intolerance".
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