West Palm sues feds over stand on immigrants

‘Welcoming City’ resolution complies with the law, city says.

WEST PALM BEACH — Threatened with loss of police grants, West Palm Beach countered Tuesday by suing the Department of Justice, asking a U.S. court to declare the city’s 2017 Welcoming City resolution compliant with federal law and put an end to the threats, which are aimed to win local help in deportations.

“Prior to filing this lawsuit, the city tried to work with DO J in good faith to clearly explain and prove to them that there should be no reason for DO J to continue to question the city’s compliance with federal law,” city spokeswoman Kathleen Walter said in a release late Tuesday. “DO J, however, has refused to release the city from a list of cities that it is targeting as potential violators of federal law, even though the DO J has provided no explanation as to why it thinks the city might not be complying with federal law.”

West Palm Beach in March passed a resolution declaring West Palm a “Welcoming City” whose employees will not help federal law enforcers round up

immigrants for deportation unless specifically required to by state or federal law or courts. The effort was meant to allay concerns the city would actively assist in deportations, except as required, unlike some self-designated “sanctuary cities” that refuse to comply altogether.

But in late January, West Palm and 22 other cities received letters from the Department of Justice, demanding emails and other communications to city law enforcers, “regarding whether and how these employees may, or may not, communicate with the Department of Justice, the Department of Homeland Security, and/or Immigration and Customs Enforcement or their agents.” West Palm responded that it would comply with all information requests, in the same way it supplies public records in accordance with Florida law.

But in light of the pressure from the Justice Department, the law-