2 days Ago By Reg Chapman
President Trump is threatening to pull money from cities and states that don't cooperate with his immigration crackdown. One of his latest executive orders instructs his attorney general to identify sanctuary cities, then find "grants and contracts" for potential "suspension or termination." "I don't want our police officers tracking down undocumented immigrants when we need to prevent homicides from taking place and car jackings," said Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey.
Frey says what Trump is trying to do is against the law. "He can't require local law enforcement to do certain and specified federal work. That would be against the state law because federal immigration policy is not one of the enumerated policies under state law that police can conduct that business in," said Frey.
A city ordinance bars police and public officials from enforcing federal immigration laws, or even asking about their immigration status unless it's part of another crime. "Our values aren't changing. We are rock solid in our position here in Minneapolis.
Our position is rock solid under the United States Constitution and no, we're not moving an inch," said Frey. According to the city, what's at stake is more than $54 million in federal funds Minneapolis gets each year. Last year, that money went towards affordable housing, responding to the opioid epidemic, and crime prevention and safety.
"It's quite simple, obey the law, respect the law and don't obstruct federal immigration officials and law enforcement officials when they are simply trying to remove public safety threats from our nation's communities," said White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. Last week, a judge put a similar executive order on pause , siding with Minneapolis and more than a dozen other sanctuary jurisdictions . "So we're challenging Donald Trump in what he's pushing not just in words, but in court, and thus far its working," Frey said.
Mayor Frey says the city has a limited number of police officers and he wants them focused on violent crime. Reg Chapman joined WCCO-TV in May of 2009. He came to WCCO from WNBC-TV in New York City where he covered an array of stories for the station including the Coney Island plane crash, the crane collapse on the city's east side, 50 shots fired at motorist Sean Bell by New York Police, and a lacrosse team assault at Fairfield High School in Connecticut.
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