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What is a Sanctuary City?

A Sanctuary City is a city that has implemented directives, laws, or policies that prevent local law enforcement from cooperating with federal authorities regarding immigration law enforcement. In many cases, this prevents local authorities from notifying Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) about criminal illegal aliens that are about to be released from detainment. Instead of being turned over to ICE to possibly be deported, these illegal aliens are released into the general population.

Sanctuary cities may face the loss of Federal grant money

Sanctuary jurisdictions in Oregon currently at risk of losing funding, and amounts at risk:

Multnomah County - $173,088

Oregon Criminal Justice Commission - $2,080,047

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DOJ Targets More Sanctuaries

By Jessica Vaughan, Center for Immigration Studies, November 16, 2017

Yesterday DOJ sent a letter to 29 sanctuary jurisdictions that received law enforcement grants under the Byrne/Justice Assistance Grants program in 2016, warning them that they appear to be in violation of federal law and may have to repay the funds. In addition, they could be barred from receiving funds in 2017. Collectively, these jurisdictions received more than $16.7 million last year.

Our sanctuary cities maps are updated to reflect this development.

Under rules imposed in 2016 by previous Attorney General Loretta Lynch at the insistence of House appropriator John Culberson (R-Texas), all applicants for these grants must attest that they are in compliance with all federal laws, especially including 8 USC 1373. That law, passed in 1996, says that no state or local government can have a policy that in any way restricts communication or exchange of information about immigration status between local officials and federal immigration authorities.

Lynch's DOJ initiated an investigation into 10 sanctuaries that received $96.1 million from two DOJ funding programs in 2016. New Attorney General Jeff Sessions continued the process of notifying the jurisdictions, allowing them time to change their policies, and determining if they still qualify for the grants.  …

Rather than change, several of the sanctuaries have filed lawsuits to try to force DOJ to back off. So far, three judges have ruled in favor of the sanctuaries, in northern California, Chicago, and, most recently, Philadelphia. All of the judges found that, despite the sanctuaries' claims that DOJ was overstepping its authority and attempting to illegally coerce them to cooperate, it was permissible for DOJ to withhold funds based on illegal sanctuary policies. Nevertheless, all of the judges found other reasons to block DOJ from actually doing it. For example, the Philadelphia judge decided that Philadelphia was not a sanctuary. As a result of the litigation, DOJ has had to delay disbursing all of the 2017 grants. ...

 

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See the list of sanctuary jurisdictions affected and read the full report here.

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Sanctuary cities may face the loss of Federal grant money

A new day is dawning for sanctuary jurisdictions that have taken advantage of grant money from the federal government but declined to cooperate as they should with federal immigration law enforcement.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued a new rule July 25 for jurisdictions applying for Byrne grants to assist state and local law enforcement. Byrne grants, formally called Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Programs (“Byrne JAG”), are the largest source of federal criminal justice funds for state, local, and tribal authorities.
 
There are quite a few jurisdictions in Oregon that used money from these grants in 2016, so now they need to take another look at their uncooperative policies with federal authorities in regard to immigration.
 
Taxpayers could be hit with bigger bills than ever if the affected jurisdictions fail to meet Department of Justice requirements for the grants and do not receive any.  And citizens in these locations can expect increases in numbers of illegal aliens in their communities, if a jurisdiction chooses to “go it alone” and continues its sanctuary policies.
 
Thanks to the Center for Immigration Studies for their detailed examination of which jurisdictions could lose how much money each year by losing the Byrne grants.
 
In Oregon, jurisdictions that received significant amounts from the Byrne program in 2016 and now must show proper cooperation with DOJ or lose the grants, are:
 
City of Portland $465,810 
Lane County $84,217 
City of Salem $69,968 
County of Washington $39,976 
Deschutes. County of $33,730 
Clackamas County Juvenile Department $25,771 
City of Grants Pass $17,547 
City of Beaverton $17,239  
City of Redmond $11,874