WASHINGTON — Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Monday warned so-called sanctuary cities that they could lose federal money for refusing to cooperate with immigration authorities and suggested that the government would seek to recoup grant money that has already been awarded if the cities don’t comply.
Sessions said the Justice Department would require cities seeking some of $4.1 billion available in grant money to verify that they are in compliance with a section of federal law that allows information sharing with immigration officials.
“I urge the nation’s states and cities to carefully consider the harm they are doing to their citizens by refusing to enforce our immigration laws,” Sessions told reporters in the White House briefing room.
Sessions’ message came days after the administration released a report on local jails that listed more than 200 cases of foreigners released from custody before federal agents could intervene.
Meanwhile, municipal leaders gathered in New York vowed to defy Trump’s immigration crackdown as they met during a conference that attracted officials from cities including San Francisco, Seattle, Denver, Chicago and Philadelphia.
They promised to block federal immigration agents from accessing certain areas on city property, restrict their access to schools and school records, and to offer legal services to people in the country illegally. City officials were also encouraged to embrace their rarely used oversight and subpoena powers to investigate federal immigration practices.