US Attorney General Announces New Large-scale Sanctions Against Asylum Cities

US Attorney General William Barr said so-called sanctuary cities protecting illegal immigrants endanger the country's internal security. Barr announced a series of additional sanctions, which he called a "significant escalation" against local governments that impede the "lawful functioning" of the country's immigration system, citing Fox News.

William Barr Photo: video frame YouTube / The Justice Department

Speaking at the 2020 Legislative and Technology Conference of the National Association of Sheriffs in Washington, DC, Barr said the Department of Justice would immediately file several lawsuits against refugee cities for unconstitutionally interfering with federal immigration law enforcement and conduct unprecedented checks by authorities and prosecutors in those cities.

“Let’s lay out the reality up front and as clearly as possible,” Barr began. “When we talk about sanctuary cities, we're talking about policies that are designed to allow criminal aliens to escape. This policy does not apply to people who came to our country illegally but have otherwise been peaceful and productive members of society. The apparent purpose is to house foreigners who have already been arrested by local law enforcement for other crimes. This is neither legal nor reasonable."

The Justice Department has filed a federal complaint against the state of New Jersey, seeking declaratory and injunctive relief "against laws that prohibit state and local law enforcement agencies from sharing sensitive criminal alien information with DHS," Barr said.

This was a reference to the New Jersey Attorney General's Directive 2018-6, which, according to the Department of Justice, prohibits officials from divulging immigration status and release dates for detainees. The document also requires New Jersey law enforcement agencies to “immediately notify the detained person in writing and in a language that the person can understand” if the Immigration and Customs Service (ICE) requests the person to be detained.

Additionally, “we are filing a complaint seeking declaratory and injunctive relief against King County, Washington, for a policy that prohibits DHS from deporting aliens from the United States using King County International Airport,” Barr said.

The lawsuit was filed against King County Executive Order PFC-7-1-EO, which the Justice Department said had dramatically increased operating costs for the ICE, as detainees had to be transported to Yakima, Washington.

“The executive order unconstitutionally conflicts with the federal airline deregulation law, which prohibits local governments, such as King County, from enacting or enforcing laws or regulations affecting airline prices, routes or services,” the Justice Department said.

“In addition, we are reviewing the practices, policies and laws of other jurisdictions across the country. This includes assessing whether jurisdictions comply with our criminal statutes, particularly the criminal statute that prohibits harboring or protecting aliens in the United States,” Barr added, noting that the Justice Department will support DHS with “federal subpoenas to obtain access.” to information about criminal aliens in custody in uncooperative jurisdictions.”

On the subject: US Border Service issues fake subpoenas, not allowing immigrants granted asylum into the country

Also, according to Barr, “we are carefully reviewing the actions of some district attorneys who have adopted a policy of accusing foreign citizens of less serious crimes with the explicit goal of avoiding the federal immigration consequences of these citizens' criminal behavior. In pursuit of their personal ambitions and contrary to the misconception of equal justice, these district attorneys systematically violate the rule of law and may even illegally discriminate against American citizens. ”

Prosecutors in New York and California have changed their policies to address the so-called “side effects,” including deportation, before making certain charges.

Shelter cities, according to Barra, are defined as cities with policies that allow “criminal aliens to flee” from federal law enforcement agencies, some jurisdictions become “more aggressive” in undermining immigration authorities, and local politicians even develop “schemes” to bypass immigration officials.

In 2018, Auckland's mayor Libby Schaaf signaled the upcoming federal immigration authorities raid by writing a warning to illegal immigrants in advance and helped them escape.

Like the president, during a February 5 congressional speech, the attorney general cited several cases in which illegal immigrants could commit deadly crimes because they were harboring refugees.

“In November, ICE filed a complaint against an alien who was arrested for assaulting his father,” Barr said. — Local police in New York, who had a foreigner in custody, ignored the detainee. The alien was released and allegedly raped and murdered 92-year-old Maria Fuertes in Queens last month.”

In October 2017, DHS “identified a convicted felon with four previous deportations at a city jail in Washington state,” Barr continued. — A detention was filed with DHS. The foreigner subsequently fought with prison staff and was taken to a local medical center for treatment. But after treatment, local officials released the foreigner in violation of the conditions of detention. In January 2018, a foreigner was arrested for the murder and dismemberment of his cousin.”

According to Barr, the Constitution vests police powers in the states and does not require the states to provide positive assistance to federal authorities in implementing and applying the immigration law, but it clearly prohibits states from actively sabotaging federal immigration officials.

“The Founding Fathers carefully divided responsibility and power between the federal and state governments,” Barr said. — The Supremacy Clause of Article VI of the Constitution states that “The Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof...shall be the supreme law of the land.”

“This clause is an important part of our constitutional system. Enforcing immigration laws in a country is an important function of the national government, he added. “And no national government can properly enforce these laws if local governments get in the way.” "Federal law does not require 'sanctuary jurisdictions' to actively cooperate with federal immigration enforcement; it prohibits them from interfering with our enforcement efforts."

Barr emphasized that there is no way to determine how many “criminal aliens” are in the United States, in part because of “local politics,” although the Obama administration’s latest estimate reaches 2 million.

“Assuming this estimate was accurate, the numbers are likely even higher today, despite the Trump administration's sustained and concerted efforts to locate and deport this criminal population,” Barr said.

Barr also mentioned the Department of Justice lawsuit against California and other states over their asylum policy. The lawsuit against California includes law prohibiting the federal government from conducting operations in its own private immigration facilities and detention centers.

On the subject: The refuge city released the illegal immigrant, on the same day he tried to kill a man

The law, Barr said, was "a blatant state attempt to ban DHS from detaining foreigners and hamper the ability of the Bureau of Prisons and the US Marshals to manage federal detainees and prisoners."

“The department sued the state of California to stop numerous state laws that attempted to undermine the federal immigration system,” Barr said. “We prevailed on several of our challenges in the lower courts, and we hope the Supreme Court will grant our request to hear the remaining issues and support us on California's filibuster policy.”

Barra’s new sanctions came into force after the Trump administration announced other initiatives against illegal immigration after the president spoke to Congress last week.

Acting Homeland Security Commissioner Chad Wolf said DHS has suspended enrollment in Global Entry and several other Trusted Traveler Programs (TTP) for all New Yorkers, a dramatic move in response to the state's recently passed Green Light Law, which allowed illegal immigrants receive a driver's license regardless of their immigration status. Barr called the document "illegal."

Assistant Commissioner for Customs and Border Affairs of the Office of Field Operations Todd Owen later said that over the next 5 years, a rule change could affect up to 800 New Yorkers. According to him, people with pending applications for Global Entry will receive a refund, and those who have active applications will not be affected until the date they are updated.

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