'They make our nation less safe': Sessions threatens to terminate federal grants for sanctuary cities

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March 27, 2017 8:56 PM

Jeff Sessions urged states and cities to comply with immigration laws, threatening to withhold or terminate grants to cities that willfully violate the laws.

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Attorney General Jeff Sessions urged states and local jurisdictions to comply with federal immigration laws, threatening to withhold or terminate grants to cities that willfully violate the laws. Following is a transcript of the video.

Jeff Sessions: The Department of Justice has a duty to enforce our nation’s laws including our immigration laws. Those laws require us to promptly remove aliens when they are convicted or detained of certain crimes.

Unfortunately, some states and cities have adopted policies designed to frustrate this enforcement of immigration laws. This includes refusing to detain known felons on the federal detainer request or otherwise failing to comply with these laws. For example, the Department of Homeland Security recently issued a report showing that in a single week there were more than 200 instances of jurisdictions refusing to honor ICE detainer requests with respect to individuals charged or convicted of a serious crime.

Today, I’m urging states and local jurisdictions to comply with these federal laws.

Failure to remedy violations could result in withholding grants, termination of grants, and disbarment or ineligibility for future grants. The Department of Justice will also take all lawful steps to claw back any funds awarded to a jurisdiction that willfully violates 1373.

We have simply got to end this policy. Thank you all.

Reporter: What about the Eric Garner case and the white supremacist that killed the black man in New York? Is that a hate crime, sir?

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