On Monday, US Attorney General, Jeff Sessions said that Justice Department grants could be withheld from states and cities protecting undocumented immigrant criminals from federal immigration laws. In a news briefing at the White House, Sessions said entire communities are at risk by such actions, including law-abiding immigrant communities.
Eric Schneiderman, the Attorney General of New York State, took issue with Sessions’ comments, saying that his office would not stop assisting local governments to protect immigrants. Sessions says that not only could the Justice Department withhold grants to sanctuary cities and similar localities that do not obey federal immigration law but they could also claw back funds that have already been allocated.
One of the offices of the Justice Department is expected to award over $4.1 billion worth of federal grants in 2017, according to Sessions. Sanctuary cities aid undocumented immigrants to avoid the threat of deportation by offering only a limited amount of cooperation with agencies, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Sessions urged cities, states, and counties in the US to think carefully about the damage they are doing to American citizens by failing to enforce the country’s immigration laws and to reconsider their stance.
Sessions’ policies were slammed as ‘un-American’ by Schneiderman, who is a member of the Democratic Party, and says that local and state governments have the legal right to refuse to assist federal immigration authorities at their own discretion.