US judge sides against Trump in fight over ‘sanctuary cities’
CHICAGO: A federal judge on Friday barred the US Justice Department from denying public-safety grants to socalled sanctuary cities that limit cooperation with the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration.
The preliminary injunction issued by US District Judge Harry Leinenweber was in response to a legal challenge brought by Chicago, the third-largest city in the US, but the judge ruled that his order would be applied on a nationwide basis.
Chicago sued in August after US Attorney-General Jeff Sessions announced that the Justice Department would bar cities from receiving certain grants unless they allowed federal immigration authorities unlimited access to local jails and provided 48 hours’ notice before releasing anyone wanted for immigration violations.
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel hailed Friday’s decision at a City Hall news conference as ‘an affirmation of the rule of law’.
“It’s an assertion of our most fundamental American values and it’s an unambiguous, clear rejection of the false choice that the Trump Justice Department wanted Chicago to make between our values, our principles and our priorities,” Emanuel said.
President Donald Trump has made tougher immigration enforcement a centrepiece of his campaign and presidency, along with a pledge to build a wall on the US-Mexican border.
As part of that policy, the Justice Department has sought to punish cities and other local jurisdictions that have joined a growing ‘sanctuary’ movement aimed at shielding illegal immigrants from stepped-up deportation efforts.
In granting his injunction, Judge Leinenweber found that the city of Chicago has established ‘a likelihood of success’ in prevailing on the merits of its case once the lawsuit is considered in its entirety.
The Trump administration has argued that its deportation crackdown is focused on illegal immigrants convicted of serious crimes, and that public safety is jeopardised when police refuse to notify US Immigration and Customs Enforcement of plans to release such a person from local custody. — Reuters