Mayor fiery on immigration

Hancock calls Justice’s threat to subpoena info on Denver’s policies “destructive”

Denver Mayor Michael Hancock on Wednesday came out firing in response to the U.S. Department of Justice’s threat to subpoena information regarding the city’s immigration policies, calling it “a destructive ploy” by the Trump administration.

Hancock, in Washington, D.C., for a U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting, joined many attendees in refusing an invitation to the White House on Wednesday, with some citing similar letters sent to 22 other cities, counties and states. The targeted governments have so-called “sanctuary city policies” that seek to protect immigrants who are living in the country illegally.

Hancock also alleged that President Donald Trump was attempting to distract from recent news out of special counsel Robert Mueller’s broad investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

“These threats are blatant attempts to distract the American people from the real news, namely that the Mueller investigation is turning up the heat on a dysfunctional presidency,” Hancock said in a statement issued by his office Wednesday afternoon.

Of the declined White House invitation, he said: “I refuse to meet with the president under these kinds of threats and fearmongering.”

Later, spokeswoman Jenna Espinoza clarified in response to a question from The Denver Post that Hancock “never intended to be part of Trump’s photo op” because of the administration’s past posturing. But she said the Justice Department letter “drove the mayor to make his plans public.”

At the event, according to The Associated Press, Trump responded by accusing Hancock and the other boycotting mayors of putting the needs of “criminal illegal immigrants over law-abiding Americans.”

The letters are the latest volley in Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ drive to yank some federal grant funding from local and state governments that, in the view of the Justice Department, don’t cooperate sufficiently with immigration enforcement.

Federal courts still are reviewing the legality of the move, and injunctions are in place holding up key parts of Sessions’ new grant-eligibility requirements.

The Justice Department, in the new letters, is seeking documents relating to policies, orders or guidance to local law enforcement employees that restrict how they may communicate with the Justice Department, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. A federal law bars local and state governments

from restricting the sharing of information about a person’s citizenship or immigration status.

Denver in August approved more restrictive immigration policies that prohibit most city cooperation with ICE agents. Wednesday’s letters follow others sent by the Justice Department to the targeted governments in recent months.

At risk is Denver’s eligibility for money awarded in the 2016 round of the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Programs and its application in the 2017 round. Denver typically spends about $400,000 to $500,000 a year from JAG grants.

In a news release, Sessions urged the cities and other governments under review “to reconsider policies that place the safety of their communities and their residents at risk.”

“Protecting criminal aliens from federal immigration authorities defies common sense and undermines the rule of law,” he said. “We have seen too many examples of the threat to public safety represented by jurisdictions that actively thwart the federal government’s immigration enforcement — enough is enough.”

But Hancock accused the Justice Department’s attorneys of attempting to “politicize a routine exchange of information.”

“We will repeat what we have said time and again: Denver does not violate section 1373 and complies with all federal laws,” Hancock said, citing the legal provision requiring informationsharing.

Hancock’s full statement followed a dashed-off tweet in which Hancock said Denver “won’t be intimidated.”

A mayoral spokeswoman later said the city was complying with the information-sharing law because its employees were trained to direct immigration-related requests from federal authorities to the city attorney’s office.

Other letter recipients included big cities — New York City, Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles — as well as smaller ones, such as Louisville, Ky., Burlington, Vt., Jackson, Miss., and Berkeley, Calif. Letters also went to Sacramento County, Calif., and King County, Wash., as well as to the states of Illinois, Oregon and California.

Denver’s letter is addressed to Police Chief Robert White, who last year declared, “We do not do the work of ICE.”

Denver hasn’t gone as far as some places in limiting cooperation with immigration authorities, but its approach shares a common intent: to assure immigrants in the city that police and city employees won’t put them at greater risk of deportation.

Hancock and City Council members have argued that resistant policies are needed so that crime victims and witnesses feel secure enough to report crimes and cooperate with police.

A new city ordinance approved by the council in August and a companion executive order issued by Hancock don’t allow city employees to ask about or share a person’s legal status. And the ordinance bars ICE agents from accessing secure areas of city jails for inmate interviews without a judicial warrant.

Unlike some cities, Denver’s policy is to provide notification to ICE before the release of an inmate it has flagged — though not usually within the 48 hours Sessions has required. The city ordinance also requires jails to provide affected inmates with a written advisement of their rights and to track what happens after their release.

Two immigrant-rights advocacy groups that supported those changes criticized the Justice Department’s approach.

“If the Trump administration wants to subpoena our city legislators, it would be a waste of taxpayer time and money,” said a joint statement issued by the Denver office of the American Friends Service Committee and the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition. “The Denver ordinance enforces the Constitution and requires that ICE get a judicial warrant, like the rest of our justice system, instead of seeking warrantless arrests.”

Ultimately, the courts may determine how much leverage the Justice Department and the targeted local and state governments can exert on the issue.