The Justice Department (DOJ) announced Friday afternoon it is forcing nine communities that have been refusing to cooperate with federal immigration authorities that they will have to prove they are complying with a U.S. Immigration Laws in order to continue receiving Law Enforcement Grant Money. The city council has declared it will "oppose efforts to deny federal funding to so-called 'sanctuary cities, ' or communities that may not have the resources to enforce federal immigration laws". But some of the localities remained defiant, despite risking the loss of funds that police agencies use to pay for everything from body cameras to bulletproof vests.
"If anybody in the Trump administration would actually do some research before firing off letters, they would see that the city of New Orleans has already provided the Department of Justice documentation that shows we are in compliance with federal immigration laws", Mayor Mitch Landrieu said in a statement. "We have to go wherever we can find them and apprehend them".
Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon says the Trump administration is basing its policies on "principles of white supremacy" and not American values. Their constant and systematic targeting of diverse cities and states goes beyond constitutional norms and will be challenged at every level..
De Blasio is backing an effort to force people to quit smoking by raising the city's current legal minimum price of a pack from $10.50, further cementing New York City's claim on having among the most expensive cigarettes in the country.
"It is an outrageous statement, and it's absurd on its face and ignores a quarter century of progress in this city of bringing down crime", he said.
"To say we're soft on crime is absolutely ludicrous.", O'Neill said incredulously.
San Francisco power outage sparked by equipment failure
While an inconvenience for many , a power outage represents a truly scary situation for some around the city. Nearly immediately BART sent out an alert advising passengers of the closure at Montgomery St.
It also accused local officials of being more concerned about protecting undocumented immigrants than capturing criminals, citing the recent arrest of MS-13 gang members in California. I say to the voters in those cities, ask your leadership why it is that they don't want to remove risky criminals from your community and cooperate with federal law enforcement and why federal law enforcement should cooperate with cities that don't cooperate with them.
Miami-Dade is one of several locales that got warnings Friday from the Justice Department. A letter to nine such municipalities threatened withholding millions in grant money if they don't comply.
It also took issue with a New Orleans Police Department policy that it said might hinder communication with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The grants in question are among the largest handed out under the program, collectively amounting to 11 percent of the $256 million distributed in the last fiscal year. "I think we feel confident that that will happen, that we will avoid a shutdown".
The other two bills will prohibit pharmacies from selling tobacco products and require landlords to create a smoking policy for the entire building and disclose it to tenants, although it doesn't require that they turn the buildings into no-smoking buildings.
"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.
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