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Attorney General Madigan & 10 AGs File Brief Protecting Funding for ‘Sanctuary Cities’


Attorney General Lisa Madigan
Source: illinoisattorneygeneral.gov

Chicago —(ENEWSPF)—December 1, 2017

By: Rosemary Piser

Attorney General Lisa Madigan along with 10 attorneys general filed an amicus brief with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California opposing the federal government’s efforts to cut off federal public safety grants to “sanctuary” cities.

The amicus brief argues that the federal government’s threats to withhold grants that are provided through the Department of Justice’s Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program are unlawful, jeopardize public health and safety, and endanger the trust that members of the immigrant communities have in local law enforcement. The DOJ has threatened to withhold grants from 38 sanctuary cities in an effort to pressure them to enforce federal immigration law.

In part, the brief states:

“State and local government officials are in the best position to make judgments about how to allocate scarce resources to serve the particular public safety needs of their local communities. Those officials frequently recognize that using state and local law enforcement agencies to enforce federal civil immigration laws can divert critical resources—including the time and attention of officers—away from other pressing needs.”

In addition to Madigan, the attorneys general of Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Washington and the District of Columbia are also part of the filing of this amicus brief.

A copy of the amicus brief is here.

Source: www.illinoisattorneygeneral.gov


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