Reader:

Attorney General Jeff Sessions has officially put nine sanctuary cities on notice that some of the federal grants they currently are receiving will soon be revoked if they fail to prove they are in compliance with what they seem to think is the “antiquated” concept of obeying US immigration laws.

On Friday the Department of Justice sent letters to eight cities and one county warning them to discontinue their current practice of limiting communications with the Department of Homeland Security in the areas of “information regarding the immigration or citizenship status” of prisoners.

Federal statute 8 USC § 1373 prohibits local and state governments from establishing policies that limit such communication with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Protection.

The letters made it clear that the funds were in jeopardy if the proof was not forthcoming. They were reminded that the DOJ “expects each of these jurisdictions to comply with this grant condition and to submit all documentation to the Office of Justice Programs by June 30, 2017. That date is the deadline imposed by the grant agreement.”

The recipients were Chicago and Cook County, as well as the cities of Sacramento, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Las Vegas, Miami, Milwaukee and New York City. These cities and others are attempting to interpret the law in such a technical, word-parsing manner so as to provide a legal means for violating the law while still being able to demand the grant money.

They argue that they aren’t violating the Federal statute because they aren’t required to comply with ICE requests, such as detainers or notification of release dates. They are simply prohibited from enacting policies about the sharing of immigration status which they claim not to do.

A policy is defined as a course or principle of action adopted or proposed by a government, party, business, or individual. It’s obvious what their policy is although they may choose to not label it as such. A policy by any other or without a name is still a policy. Their claims are ignorant, dishonest and false. That doesn’t mean they won’t find a crooked Obamajudge to rule in their favor, though. The Judiciary is lousy with them and those are all liberal cities in which to go shopping.

At stake is the Office of Justice Programs Byrne JAG grant, a source of funding for things such as personnel, training, equipment and supplies.

AG Sessions is currently on his second visit to the southern border, this time in the company of DHS Secretary Kelly. He visited El Paso on Thursday and San Diego on Friday. He’s probably not heading to Chicago or NYC any time soon.

Thank you for reading and sharing my work Rick Wells