Emanuel’s plan to sue federal government incites response from Department of Justice

AP Photo/Matt Marton

Chicago’s plans to sue the federal government for withholding crime-fighting money from sanctuary cities took a hit on Sunday as the Department of Justice fired back against the plans.

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Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced Sunday that the city of Chicago would be filing a lawsuit in response to the Trump administration’s promise to block federal grants to cities that don’t comply with federal immigration law, according to Fox News. The lawsuit was to be filed Monday, but the Department of Justice was quick to respond to the Mayor.

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“In 2016, more Chicagoans were murdered than in New York City and Los Angeles combined. So it’s especially tragic that the mayor is less concerned with that staggering figure than he is spending time and taxpayer money protecting criminal aliens and putting Chicago’s law enforcement at greater risk,” department spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores told the Chicago Sun-Times.

This all coming from an update posted by federal official on Thursday which Emanuel compared to “blackmail” seeing as it listed an updated application for the grants. At the center of it all is the so-called Byrne grants which fund cities’ law-enforcement groups, according to Fox.

The grant, which makes up a small portion of the city’s budget, was set to fund  $3.2 million  to Chicago which would be used to buy police vehicles.

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“Chicago will not be blackmailed into changing our values, and we are and will remain a welcoming city,” Emanuel said. “The federal government should be working with cities to provide necessary resources to improve public safety, not concocting new schemes to reduce our crime-fighting resources.”

The compromise Emanuel refers to is a requirement added to the application which would force local jurisdictions to report to federal officials about the release of illegal immigrants from police custody at least 48 hours in advance.

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