The Latest: New York mayor says violence claims are wrong
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on the Justice Department warning nine communities to prove they are complying with an immigration law or risk coveted law enforcement grant money (all times local):
5:21 p.m.
New York City's mayor says the Justice Department's claims about its violence are "out of touch with reality."
The department sent the city a letter warning it to comply with federal immigration enforcement of risk losing grant money. It said in a news release that New York City's gang murders are "the predictable consequence of the city's 'soft on crime' stance."
Mayor's spokesman Seth Stein calls that "alternative facts."
He says the Trump administration's grandstanding is out of touch with reality. He says it is safe, thanks to policies that encourage cooperation between police and immigrant communities.
Through April 16 the city had seen 74 killings in 2017, according to the police department, which would put it on pace to have the fewest number of murders since it began keeping accurate records on homicides.
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4:37 p.m.
Chicago-area officials are dismissing a Justice Department letter ordering it to comply with federal immigration enforcement or risk losing grant money.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel says "neither the facts nor the law" are on the department's side.
Emanuel, a White House chief of staff in the Obama administration, has beefed up the city's efforts to protect immigrants living in the country illegally, including establishing a legal fund with taxpayer money to help those facing deportation. Chicago has been a sanctuary city since the 1980s.
Both the city and county support legal efforts challenging Trump's executive order on sanctuary cities.
Frank Shuftan, a spokesman for Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, says the county "complies with all applicable federal laws."
He rejected the Trump administration's statements linking crime and illegal immigration.
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3:30 p.m.
The leader of California's state Senate rejects a Justice Department letter that says to comply with federal immigration enforcement or risk losing grant money.
Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon says the Trump administration is basing its policies on "principles of white supremacy" and not American values.
The Los Angeles Democrat says the administration's targeting of diverse cities and states goes beyond constitutional norms and will continue to be challenged.
De Leon has been an outspoken critic of the administration's immigration crackdown.
The Trump administration sent letters to nine jurisdictions in its conflict with sanctuary cities, communities that refuse to comply with federal immigration authorities.
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2:30 p.m.
A spokesman for Miami-Dade County in Florida says the county never claimed to be a sanctuary city —that's the name for a jurisdiction that refuses to comply with federal immigration authorities.
Miami-Dade is one of several locales that got warnings Friday from the Justice Department. The department says it will withhold important grant money unless the county follows a federal immigration law.
Spokesman Mike Hernandez says the policy in question was reversed in February, and the Justice Department will be notified.
February is when county commissioners approved a resolution saying the corrections department will honor all so-called detainers from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. That means it will hold people for an extra 48 hours, long enough to be arrested by immigration authorities.
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2:30 p.m.
A New Orleans official says the city will provide the Justice Department with proof that it is complying with federal law and cooperating with immigration authorities.
Mayor Mitch Landrieu's executive counsel and director of federal relations said the city reviewed a letter Friday from the Justice Department. The letter warned that federal grant money could be withheld if the city can't document cooperation.
Zach Butterworth says the city has no problem and drafted its policies in consultation with federal immigration and homeland security officials.
Butterworth also says New Orleans police have no means or authority to enforce immigration laws or hold someone suspected of violating them. He noted that the law referenced in the Justice Department's letter was on the books before President Donald Trump took office.
Justice Department records show New Orleans received nearly $266,000 in grant money through the program in fiscal 2016.
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12:11 p.m.
The Trump administration has intensified threats to crack down on so-called sanctuary cities that refuse to comply with federal immigration authorities. The Justice Department sent letters Friday to nine jurisdictions warning it would withhold coveted law enforcement grant money unless they document cooperation.
The letters went to officials in California and in major cities including New York, Chicago, Philadelphia and New Orleans — all places the Justice Department's inspector general has identified as limiting the information local law enforcement can provide to federal immigration authorities about those in their custody.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions has warned the administration will punish communities that won't cooperate with efforts to find and deport immigrants in the U.S. illegally. money.