Just Try And Take Our Federal Funding: L.A. City Attorney Sues Trump Admin Over Sanctuary City Retaliation

On Tuesday, Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer announced that his office had filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Justice over "unconstitutional" conditions recently imposed on a federal crime-fighting grant that would deny the city federal funding based on our so-called sanctuary status.

In late July, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced a new DOJ policy that would impose immigration-related conditions on a certain category of federal crime-fighting grant. More specifically, state and local governments would be denied federal Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grants (JAG) unless they cooperated with federal immigration authorities in a number of ways, including giving immigration agents free rein to access our jail system. Los Angeles has received over $1 million in JAG funding annually for the past 20 years, and is eligible to receive $1.9 million this year between the city and county.

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra called the administration's new conditions "bullying" at a news conference last week where he announced a lawsuit challenging the new conditions.

“We’re suing to block the Trump Administration from unconstitutionally imposing its will on our city. The Administration would put L.A. to the untenable choice of risking a key public safety grant or making LAPD an arm of federal civil immigration policy,” Feuer said in a statement. “The Administration’s action is as ironic as it is unlawful, since the funds at stake support a model L.A. program targeting violent gang-related crime.”

The City Attorney's lawsuit was filed in San Francisco, where Los Angeles joins the aforementioned state of California lawsuit, along with one filed by the city of San Francisco in a coordinated effort challenging the new conditions, according to the City Attorney's office.