Courts previously gave President Trump a big victory in his plan to protect the United States by enforcing its borders, by allowing him to exclude some people from parts of the world where terror is created and exported.
Now he’s won a second battle in the war, with a decision from an appeals court that the Department of Justice is allowed to halt funding for cities and states where officials declare themselves “sanctuaries” and refuse to cooperate with federal enforcement against illegal aliens.
The Hill reported three judges on the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously reversed a trial court’s decision that the conditions couldn’t be applied to funding.
The opinion, however, found, “Repeatedly and throughout its pronouncement of Byrne Program statutory requirements, Congress makes clear that a grant applicant demonstrates qualification by satisfying statutory requirements in such form and according to such rules as the attorney general establishes.”
Judge Reena Raggi concluded in the majority opinion, “This confers considerable authority on the attorney general.”
It was a coalition of states as well as New York City who worked together to filed a lawsuit against the DOJ after Jeff Sessions, then attorney general, confirmed that funds would be withheld from localities where officials refused to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement.
Officials in those “sanctuaries” would refuse to share information about illegal aliens in custody, provide jail access to federal authorities, and in many cases, simply released offenders even though local authorities knew that federal officials wanted to prosecute them.
Raggi found, however, Congress gave considerable authority to the attorney general for the operation of the grant program involved, the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance program.
Sessions explained at the time, “So-called ‘sanctuary’ policies make all of us less safe because they intentionally undermine our laws and protect illegal aliens who have committed crimes. These policies also encourage illegal immigration and even human trafficking by perpetuating the lie that in certain cities, illegal aliens can live outside the law.”
He said the grants would be provided only to cities and states “that comply with federal law.”
Rhode Island, Washington, Massachusetts, Virginia, New Jersey, Connecticut and New York had sued.
