The city and state of New York filed federal lawsuits against the Justice Department for what they called “its unlawful efforts” to force the NYPD and other city officials to enforce federal immigration laws by withholding roughly $9 million in public safety grants.
In 2017, Justice imposed conditions on a key public safety grant the city and state have relied on for years to fight crime and terrorism, and has refused to release the grants, including a $4 million grant for the city alone.
The feds also threatened to claw back millions in grant money already awarded, according to the city’s complaint, filed in federal court in Manhattan. “Local law enforcement has the right to decide how to meet their local public safety needs, and the Trump administration simply does not have the right to require state and local police to act as federal immigration agents,” Attorney General Barbara Underwood said in a statement about the state suit, which was also filed in the Manhattan court.
Bulk of Families Separated at U.S.-Mexico Border Remain Apart
With one week left on a court-ordered deadline to reunite children and parents separated by U.S. immigration officials, government lawyers reported on Thursday that 364 of some 2,500 families with children aged 5 and older have been brought back together. It was unclear from the status report, filed as part of an American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit challenging parent-child separations at the border, exactly how many more reunifications were likely.
Of more than 2,500 parents identified as potentially eligible for having their children returned to them, 848 have been interviewed and cleared for reunification, attorneys for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) told the court. Another 229 parents have been deemed ineligible because of criminal records, or because they “waived” reunification or for other reasons. The rest are pending review.
The report also said more than 700 of the parents in question have final deportation orders, though a federal judge has barred the expulsion of those parents until at least a week after they regain their children.
