Trump administration can withhold millions of dollars in police funding to ‘sanctuary cities’, court rules

The Trump administration can withhold millions of dollars from law enforcement agencies in so-called “sanctuary” states and cities that do not cooperate with US immigration officials, a court has ruled.

The decision, issued by a Court of Appeals in Manhattan, marks a victory for the White House, which is cracking down on those jurisdictions seeking to adopt their own laws regarding immigration.

New York City, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Washington, Massachusetts, Virginia and Rhode Island have all found themselves in Donald Trump‘s crosshairs, with the president eager to strip back “sanctuary” policies that support undocumented immigrants.

Last December, the state of New York issued a Green Light Bill that allows these individuals to apply for driver’s licenses while barring federal immigration agencies from accessing records of information.

In response, the White House prevented the state’s residents from enrolling in Trusted Traveler programmes, which allow members to use expedited lanes at US airports, and halted the export of cars with New York titles.

Now, under the new ruling, the Justice Department can withhold police grant money from those states failing to comply with specific immigration measures enforced by the government.

“Today’s decision rightfully recognises the lawful authority of the attorney general to ensure that Department of Justice grant recipients are not at the same time thwarting federal law enforcement priorities,” Alexei Woltornist, a Justice Department spokesman, said.

Those states fighting the administration expressed their disappointment at the ruling, but vowed they would see “President Trump back in court”.

Gurbir Grewal, the attorney general of New Jersey, said: “It’s unfortunate that the federal government has decided to weaponise the federal grant funding process in order to carry out the president’s anti-immigrant agenda but I’m confident that we will ultimately prevail in the courts.”

In a statement, New York City mayor Bill de Blasio said the president’s “latest retaliation against his hometown takes away security funding from the number one terrorist target in America – all because we refuse to play by his arbitrary rules.”

“We’ll see President Trump back in court and we will win.”

The Justice Department first announced in 2017 that it would withhold grant money from those jurisdictions refusing to provide immigration authorities access to jails and advance notice when someone in the country illegally is about to be released.

At the time, then-attorney general Jeff Sessions said: “So-called ‘sanctuary’ policies make all of us less safe because they intentionally undermine our laws and protect illegal aliens who have committed crimes.”

In 2018, the Justice Department imposed additional conditions on the grant money, though challenges to those have not yet reached the appeals court in New York.

In its ruling, Manhattan’s Court of Appeals noted that the US Supreme Court has repeatedly observed that the federal government maintains broad power over states when it comes to immigration policies.

“While mindful of the respect owed to our sister circuits, we cannot agree that the federal government must be enjoined from imposing the challenged conditions on the federal grants here at issue,” the three-judge panel said in a decision written by Reena Raggi.

“These conditions help the federal government enforce national immigration laws and policies supported by successive Democratic and Republican administrations.”

While the Justice Department praised the ruling as a “major victory for Americans”, it added that the ruling’s effect will be limited because other courts have ruled the other way, giving the plaintiffs in the New York case the opportunity to ignore the new conditions.

Cody Wofsy, a staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, called the decision a “real outlier”, saying he believed the Manhattan Court of Appeals was the nation’s first to side with the Trump administration on the issue.

“Over and over, courts have said the Department of Justice doesn’t have authority under governing statutes to impose these conditions,” he said. “These conditions are part of the administration’s attempts to bully, cajole and coerce state and local governments into participating in federal immigration enforcement activities.”​

Additional reporting by agencies