[direwolf]

San Francisco and the state of California joins Chicago as the latest city/state to sue the Trump administration over their sanctuary city punishment.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/14/u...ty-policy.html

Intensifying California’s standoff with the Trump administration over immigration policy, the California attorney general sued the Justice Department on Monday over the administration’s plans to cut off millions of dollars in federal funding to so-called sanctuary cities unless they begin cooperating with federal immigration agents.

The state’s attorney general, Xavier Becerra, argued in the lawsuit that the Justice Department’s threat, made by Attorney General Jeff Sessions last month, undermines public safety and violates the Constitution.

“It’s a low blow to our men and women who wear the badge for the federal government to threaten their crime-fighting resources in order to force them to do the work of the federal government,” Mr. Becerra said at a news conference. “We’re in the best position to determine how best to enforce the law and keep our people safe.”

The San Francisco and California lawsuits say that by tying the grant funding to immigration matters, the Justice Department is exceeding the constitutional authority of the executive branch. Only Congress can set such conditions, they say.

San Francisco, which could lose about $1.4 million if the new terms of the grant are enforced, uses the money for diversion programs that focus on treating and rehabilitating defendants, services for young people at risk of committing crimes, drug deterrence and other initiatives.