In keeping with an earlier executive order from President Trump, Attorney General Jeff Sessions has threatened to withhold Justice Department grant funding from jurisdictions that refuse to disclose people's immigration status to the federal government. This policy targets the nation's approximately 60 "sanctuary cities," which include New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Seattle, and Boston, that have refused to cooperate with federal ICE deportations of noncriminal undocumented immigrants. Sessions' rule is at odds with the Constitution's Tenth Amendment and decades of case law that argue that the federal government cannot broadly withhold federal funding from local jurisdictions to force compliance with federal mandates. Even Trump advisor Rudy Giuliani recognized the constitutional limits to federal interference in local compliance with immigration. In 1996, he stated, "The Tenth Amendment provides that 'The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.' One right not granted to the federal government is the right of state and local governments to provide for the health and safety of their local communities."
Sessions hopes to bypass the Constitution by withholding funding only for local and state law enforcement. The decision to cut funding to local law enforcement in the name of improving public safety defies logic and deprives local law enforcement of money used to fight and prevent crimes that actually threaten Americans. While Sessions cites safety concerns to justify defunding sanctuary cities, a study of 2,492 US counties by the Center for American Progress and the National Immigration Law Center found that sanctuary counties are significantly safer and more economically prosperous than non-sanctuary jurisdictions. Multiple studies (including those by the University of Massachusetts, Northwestern, and the University of California) have also shown that first generation immigrants, regardless of their legal status, are less likely than native-born Americans to commit crimes. Threats to sanctuary cities also undermine local government and law enforcement's mission to build trust and protect the communities they serve. Despite claiming to dislike big government, the Trump administration and Jeff Sessions are interfering with state and local policy, violating the Constitution and undermining local governments' ability to protect their people.
Call this office:
U.S. Department of Justice
Why you’re calling this office:
This organization is driving legislation related to the issue.
Your script:
Hi, my name is [NAME] and I'm a citizen from [CITY, ZIP].
I'm calling to express my opposition to withholding law enforcement funding from sanctuary cities that do not release the names of undocumented people to the federal government. Defunding local law enforcement is an irresponsible and unconsitutional decision that will endanger public safety.
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