Judge blocks withholding funds from ‘sanctuary’ cities

Connecticut among the six states affected

New York — The Trump administration cannot withhold $29 million in federal money from New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island and three other states that do not embrace harsh immigration policies, a judge wrote Friday, ruling that the effort violated the separation of powers.

Manhattan Federal Judge Edgardo Ramos said the money from the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program has to be distributed to the states, as well as New York City.

Former Attorney General Jeff Sessions had spearheaded the effort to force “sanctuary” cities and states to implement policies such as allowing Immigration and Customs Enforcement easier access to jails, prisons and citizenship information in exchange for the grant money.

“The separation of powers acts as a check on tyranny and the concentration of power,” Ramos wrote.

“These conditions violate the separation of powers.”

The grant program is named after an New York Police Department officer, Edward Byrne, who was shot to death in 1988 while guarding the home of an immigrant targeted by gangs for reporting crimes in a Queens neighborhood.

“As we argued, local law enforcement has the right to decide how to meet their local public safety needs — and the Trump administration simply does not have the right to require state and local police to act as federal immigration agents. The Trump administration’s attempt to withhold these vital funds was nothing more than a political attack at the expense of our public safety,” State Attorney General Barbara Underwood said.

Ramos noted the city’s basis for sanctuary policies that limit local authorities’ cooperation with ICE.

“The City believes that these laws and policies are instrumental in maintaining the City’s historically low crime rates by promoting trust and cooperation between the New York Police Department and the public, including immigrant communities that otherwise may retreat into the shadows if they believe that the police will share their information with federal immigration authorities,” Ramos wrote.

By contrast, the feds did not produce any assessment of the consequences of withholding the money.