Court allows crackdown on sanctuary cities

The Trump administration can cut the purse strings for jurisdictions that refuse to cooperate with federal immigration authorities, a federal appeals court ruled on Wednesday. In a unanimous decision, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York deviated from three other courts that previously concluded the U.S. attorney general did not have the authority to withhold law enforcement grants.

Who stands to lose funding? In 2017, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Virginia, and Washington sued the U.S. government after the Department of Justice said it would withhold money from local agencies that did not work with immigration authorities. The Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program allots more than $250 million a year to state and local law enforcement efforts. Because of the conflicting decisions among appellate courts across the country, the U.S. Supreme Court likely will review the case.

Dig deeper: Read Kent Covington’s report in The Sift about the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals siding with sanctuary cities against Trump.