Congress controls the purse strings in the USA, and sanctuary cities and states are about to find out just what that means.
California state and local law enforcement agencies may have to choose between more than $100 million in federal aid and the “sanctuary city” immigration policies that supporters say are humane, but critics say fuel crime.
The policies, whether in writing or just in practice, preclude local law enforcement from working with federal authorities when they catch an illegal immigrant who by law faces deportation. The laws have sparked a national controversy in the wake of dozens of murders and other violent crimes committed by illegal immigrants who local law enforcement did not report to the Department of Homeland Security.
Republicans in Congress, saying such non-cooperation is illegal, forced the Department of Justice to condition grants on compliance. For California, which enacted the California Trust Act, that could mean as much as $135 million in grants will be withheld.
That may not sound like much, but to generally cash-strapped law enforcement agencies it is, as Joe Biden might say, "a big Effing deal". In California, their "Trust Act" has just been declared illegal. The entire state is now ineligible for federal grants, as is the state of Connecticut and a number of other proud "sanctuary" jurisdictions.
Rep. John Abney Culberson, R-Texas, said cities and states that embrace sanctuary policies can be stripped of federal grants, including the entire states of Connecticut and California, as well as Las Vegas, Milwaukee, Miami, Chicago, New Orleans, New York and Philadelphia, which were audited in the Inspector General report.
“If these ten jurisdictions do not repeal their sanctuary policies to comply with this federal immigration law, they will not be eligible for Byrne-JAG and State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP) law enforcement grants and could be subject to civil and criminal penalties,” Culberson said in a statement. “Under the new Department of Justice grant guidelines, these ten jurisdictions will now have to choose between receiving law enforcement grant money or protecting criminal illegal aliens. They can no longer do both. If these jurisdictions refuse to comply they could also be forced to repay every dollar they have received from these grant programs.”
Yep, the hammer's coming down, and it's long overdue. Barry's buddy Rahm Emmanuel, presently mayor of Chicago (one of the few cities in America where the murder rate is escalating rather than declining) is entirely predictable in his reaction to this development:
The mayor of Chicago, the IG report noted, has been defiant, stating publicly, “we are not going to turn people over to ICE, and we are not going to check their immigration status. We will check for criminal background, but not for immigration status.”
“This is a big deal,” said Vaughan. “This OIG report is the clearest statement yet from the federal government that sanctuary policies like California’s and Chicago’s obstruct immigration enforcement and violate federal law.”
Chicago is insolvent, but by golly they're not going to adhere to federal law on Rahm's watch. Maybe Rahm can just print his own money.
