Attorney General Jeff Sessions is withdrawing criminal justice funds from Chicago, until the city ends its “culture of lawlessness” and complies with federal laws. Chicago is a notorious sanctuary city, where hundreds die each year – and where some inner-city neighborhoods are even more deadly than the Middle East.
“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. So it’s this simple: Comply with the law or forego taxpayer dollars,” Sessions stated. “The city’s leaders cannot follow some laws and ignore others and reasonably expect this horrific situation to improve,” Sessions continued.
Sessions, the man behind “Chicago Gun Strike Force” that was established to address violence in the city of Chicago argued that the city has “adopted an official policy of protecting criminal aliens who prey on their own residents.”
“The Mayor complains that the federal government’s focus on enforcing the law would require a ‘reordering of law enforcement practice in Chicago.’ But that’s just what Chicago needs: a recommitment to the rule of law and to policies that rollback the culture of lawlessness that has beset the city,” Sessions argued.
However, Democrat Mayor Rahm Emanuel, has filed a lawsuit against the federal government arguing that that Justice Department is unjustly withholding funding.
“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.”
Sessions struck back, declaring that, “No amount of federal taxpayer dollars will help a city that refuses to help its own residents.”
“This administration is committed to the rule of law and to enforcing the laws established by Congress. To a degree perhaps unsurpassed by any other jurisdiction, the political leadership of Chicago has chosen deliberately and intentionally to adopt a policy that obstructs this country’s lawful immigration system,” he added.
Lawmakers of Chicago remain determined to argue against the Justice Department and state that it is “unconstitutional” of the feds to withhold the money. “These new conditions — which would give federal officials the power to enter city facilities and interrogate arrestees at will and would force the city to detain individuals longer than justified by probable cause, solely to permit federal officials to investigate their immigration status — are unauthorized and unconstitutional,” the lawsuit states, as per the Chicago Tribune.
