Chicago to file federal lawsuit over sanctuary cities threat
CHICAGO » Mayor Rahm Emanuel said Chicago is taking his fight against President Donald Trump’s immigration policies to court, becoming one of the first cities Monday to sue the government what many U.S. cities argue are illegal bids to withhold public safety grants from so-called sanctuary cities.
The 46-page lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago, a day after Emanuel announced the litigation and said the city won’t “be blackmailed” into changing its values as a welcoming city. He argued it’s unconstitutional for a city “to be coerced on a policy.”
Chicago officials say there are new qualifications for a grant that requires cities to share information with U.S. immigration authorities, which they allege are unconstitutional. Chicago has received the grant funds since 2005, including $2.3 million last year. They were used for buying police vehicles, radios and SWAT equipment.
“These new conditions — which would give federal officials the power to enter city facilities and interrogate arrestees at will and would force the City to detain individuals longer than justified by probable cause, solely to permit federal officials to investigate their immigration status — are unauthorized and unconstitutional,” the complaint read. “These new conditions also fly in the face of longstanding City policy that promotes cooperation between local law enforcement and immigrant communities, ensures access to essential city services for all residents, and makes all Chicagoans safer.”
Those grant amounts of money are relatively small, but Chicago leaders say they fear more impactful restrictions could be coming and so they hope to establish in court that such government measures are illegal.
It is the latest round in a battle between several major U.S. cities that opt to limit cooperation with federal government efforts to enforce immigration law and the Trump administration, with federal officials threatening for months to withhold funding for sanctuary cities, saying they don’t comply with federal laws.
Last month, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said local governments would lose the money if they do not give advance notice when immigrants in the country illegally are about to be released from custody. He also wants immigration agents to have access to local jails. He has argued that the policy makes everyone safer.
Chicago has been a sanctuary city since the 1980s, beefing up its policies in the past decade, particularly since Trump took office.
The city prohibits police from providing federal Immigration and Customs officials access to people in police custody, unless they are wanted on a criminal warrant or have serious criminal convictions. Local police are also barred from allowing ICE agents to use their facilities for interviews or investigations and from responding to ICE inquiries or talking to ICE officials about a person’s custody status or release date.
Authorities contend the policy helps encourage residents of the immigrant community to inform police when they are victims of crimes.