Jeff Sessions Blasts Chicago's DOJ Lawsuit: Follow The Law Or No Federal Money

CHICAGO, IL — The City of Chicago filed a lawsuit Monday against the U.S. Department of Justice for creating new grant requirements that would withhold federal money for crime prevention based on the municipality's sanctuary city status for undocumented immigrants, Mayor Rahm Emanuel and other officials announced at a press conference Sunday.

The decision to file the lawsuit came after the Justice Department released new guidelines last week for its Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant program, which the city has used over the years to pay for SWAT equipment, police vehicles, radios and Tasers, according to the mayor's office. In 2016, Chicago received $2.3 million in Byrne grant funding.

“Chicago will not be blackmailed into changing our values, and we are and will remain a welcoming City,” Emanuel said in a statement. “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 City of Chicago will continue to stand up to President [Donald] Trump and his Justice Department to ensure that their misguided policies do not threaten the safety of our residents.” (Get Patch real-time email alerts for the latest news for Chicago — or your neighborhood. And iPhone users: Check out Patch's new app.)

Watch: Why Chicago Is Planning To Sue The US Department Of Justice

Revised guidelines in the grant's application form, which was published Thursday, Aug. 3, make funding to cities and states conditional on fulfilling certain requirements centered on immigration enforcement, the mayor's office said. Some of the new requirements include allowing Department of Homeland Security officials unlimited access to local law enforcement facilities, as well as giving the federal agency a notice of at least 48 hours before a suspect is released from police custody, a condition that would force authorities to hold someone for longer than allowed under the Fourth Amendment, according to the mayor's office.

The city's lawsuit is asking for these new requirements to be declared unlawful, as well as declaring that the city and its Welcoming City ordinance comply with federal laws. Chicago's standing as a sanctuary city is outlined under the Welcoming City measure, which states residents will not be asked about or forced to disclose their immigration status. Undocumented immigrants also will not be denied city services, and they only will be detained if they are wanted for a non-immigration offense, have been convicted of a serious crime or are "a clear threat to public safety or national security," according to the city.

RELATED: Chicago Will Stay A Sanctuary City For Undocumented Immigrants

“We are filing this suit because the Attorney General does not have the authority to add these requirements to a grant program created by Congress and cannot commandeer local law enforcement to carry out federal immigration law functions,” Chicago Corporation Counsel Ed Siskel said in a statement. “We are asking the court to ensure that we are not forced to either forego critical grant funds or agree to new conditions, which violate the Constitution and our Welcoming City ordinance.”

Watch: Chicago Is Suing Jeff Sessions Over His Sanctuary City Crackdown

If Chicago's lawsuit was an opening salvo at Trump's immigration policies, then Attorney General Jeff Sessions returned fire for the administration in a statement released Monday. He blasted Chicago officials for adopting "an official policy of protecting criminal aliens who prey on their own residents." He also laid the blame for "the unprecedented violent crime surge in Chicago" at the foot of city leaders who "cannot follow some laws and ignore others and reasonably expect this horrific situation to improve."

"No amount of federal taxpayer dollars will help a city that refuses to help its own residents," Session said in a statement.

The attorney general suggested that the remedy to Chicago's crime problems is a recommitment to "the rule of law" in order to eradicate "the culture of lawlessness in the city."

"This administration will not simply give away grant dollars to city governments that proudly violate the rule of law and protect criminal aliens at the expense of public safety," Sessions said. "So it’s this simple: Comply with the law or forego taxpayer dollars."

The federal lawsuit is the latest in the public back and forth between Emanuel and Trump over national immigration policy since the president was elected last year. In November, the mayor declared Chicago would remain a sanctuary city after Trump threatened to block federal money from those jurisdictions during a "60 Minutes" interview. As promised, the president began cracking down on sanctuary cities in January, but a judge ruled in April that the federal government could not punish those municipalities by denying them grant funding.

RELATED: Trump Cracks Down On Sanctuary Cities Like Chicago

In a speech last month, Trump blasted sanctuary cities and claimed undocumented immigrants were at the root of those cities' crime problems. Although he didn't call out Chicago specifically when talking about sanctuary cities, the president did criticize Emanuel later in the speech when he spoke about the city's rampant gun violence.

“The federal government has been an effective partner in the crime fight, as funding and additional federal agents have greatly helped us to take guns off the streets and make our communities safer,” Chicago police Supt. Eddie Johnson said in a statement. "Removing those resources, regardless of the reason, makes [the Chicago Police Department's] mission to protect all residents in Chicago that much more difficult."

Applications for Byrne grants for the 2017 fiscal year are due Sept. 5. The grants — also known as the JAG program — are named after Edward Byrne, a murdered New York City police officer killed in 1988 while guarding a Guyanese immigrant who had reported illegal activity.

UPDATED (7:05 p.m. Monday, Aug. 7)

Mayor Rahm Emanuel (at the microphone) and other Chicago officials announced Sunday that the city would be filing a federal lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Justice concerning new grant requirements centered on immigration that could deny federal funds to sanctuary cities like Chicago. (Photo via the City of Chicago)

Like What You're Reading? Stay Patched In!

• Like our Crime page on Facebook
• Check out the Events Calendar for what’s going on