nothin Up To $56M At Risk In Trump Order | New Haven Independent

Up To $56M At Risk In Trump Order

Paul Bass Photo

One of the numerous post-election pro-immigrant rights rallies in New Haven.

New Haven potentially has tens of millions of dollars in federal grants at risk thanks to an order announced Wednesday by President Donald Trump to take action against sanctuary cities” — although at least one Yale legal expert questioned whether the order can pass constitutional muster.

Trump announced the move, part of two detailed executive orders carrying out campaign promises to build a wall along the southern border of Mexico and deport more undocumented immigrants, during a speech at the Department of Homeland Security.

We are going to restore the rule of law in the United States,” Trump declared. We are going to get the bad ones out.… We are going to get em out. And we’re going to get em out fast.”

Mayor Toni Harp responded by reaffirming that the city will not rescind its orders aimed at protecting undocumented immigrants. Throughout its history this nation has been a beacon to those who flee oppression and persecution — who seek freedom and opportunity instead; this rash act by a new President seems completely contrary to that ideal,” Harp stated in a release from her office. New Haven, one of some 300 sanctuary’ cities, counties, and states nationwide, will continue to embrace residents arriving from wherever they used to live, will work to make them feel welcome and safe, and will act to protect its ability to do so.”

In an interview, Harp reaffirmed that she has asked her corporation counsel to explore a legal challenge to Trump’s order if the president tries to enforce it against New Haven.

Sanctuary city” is a loosely defined term. It generally refers to cities with policies that protect or help undocumented immigrants. There are hundreds across the country, including New Haven.

In Section 9 of one of the two orders he signed Wednesday, Trump defined sanctuary cities as jurisdictions that willfully refuse to comply with 8 U.S.C. 1373,” a law requiring local governments to share information with federal authorities about individuals’ citizenship immigration status. New Haven has a police general order directing police officers not to inquire into citizens’ immigration status when they stop them or interview them, one of numerous steps aimed at building trust with immigrants so they will cooperate with police in reporting crimes committed against them. Trump also announced Wednesday that he is reviving a version of that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) program known as Secure Communities,” with which New Haven has specifically refused to cooperate.

Trump’s order directs his homeland security secretary and his attorney general to ensure” that sanctuary cities are not eligible to receive Federal grants, except as [they deem] necessary for law enforcement purposes.” The order gives the secretary the authority to designate” communities as sanctuary cities, and orders the attorney general to take appropriate enforcement action” against them.

The order also directs the secretary to issue a weekly comprehensive list of criminal actions committed by aliens” in jurisdictions that don’t participate in the detainer program, and orders the president’s budget director to compile information on what federal grants those cities receive.

New Haven currently has in the pipeline $43 million in approved federal community development block grants, Title I education funding, TIGER redevelopment design money, prison reentry, and Department of Justice law-enforcement support (including the Byrne” grant to make Newhallville safer), according to Harp.

Of that total, $20 million is for the TIGER grant, which is aimed at reconnecting downtown to the Hill over the Route 34 almost-abolished Connector. Of the rest, New Haven has received about $13.5 million of the total promised, with another $36.5 million yet to arrive, Harp said.

It was unclear at this point whether the order would affect money approved but not released. Or grants on which the city has drawn down some, but not all, the money. Or how the grant total would be calculated. Or whether federal money flowing through the state government would be affected.

Until more details emerge, we’re business as usual,” police spokesman Officer David Hartman said. We’re not immigration officers. We’re here to serve people in our community regardless of immigration status. It’s not too soon to be worried about it, but it’s too soon to speculate about any operational changes.”

Harp argued that New Haven’s policies earn the trust of immigrants, thereby helping make the city safer by encouraging them to work with police. If you’re really concerned about public safety, you don’t make whole communities feel uncomfortable about speaking to police,” Harp argued. This makes us less safe.”

She also questioned how the president can interfere with rules for grant distribution established by an act of Congress.

Wishnie: The Law’s Clear

Yale Law Professor Michael Wishnie (pictured), an expert in immigration law, said Harp is onto something with that point.

Wishnie cited three broad reasons that he questions whether Trump’s sanctuary city defunding order can be enforced.

Two reasons have to do with the U.S. Constitution. The Supreme Court — including the current incarnation — has long interpreted the 10th Amendment to the Constitution as preventing the federal government from directing the actions of state, county or local officials, Wishnie said. Most recently, it upheld that view in the Printz case, ordering that the feds cannot require local law enforcement officials to conduct background checks on gun buyers as part of the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act.

And the Constitution forbids the executive branch from using highly coercive conditions” on funding to accomplish the same goals through the back door, Wishnie said, citing the first clause of Article 1, Section 8. The most recent example of the Supreme Court upholding that principle came in the decision upholding the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), which threw out conditions placed on Medicaid.

However, in the past the federal government has been allowed to put some conditions on funding — such as when it tied federal highway money to a requirement that states set speed limits at 55. Wishnie said the key point is how central the purpose of the funding is to the condition, and how coercive” the condition is. So a legal challenge to Trump’s order may indeed test how coercive is too coercive,” he said. But on the face of it, he [i.e., Trump] seems to claim very broad authority to impose very coercive conditions on federal grants,” which has not passed muster with the courts.

Finally, Wishnie noted that federal grant programs usually are set by Congress, which makes the rules for how to spend the money.

Congress, when it creates federal grants, generally writes a statute. The agency that administers those programs writes regulations. Lower down than that, they’ll have contracts that set the conditions for the grant. Many of the statutes passed by Congress will say things like, you will spend these dollars based on the following criteria.’ Where Congress has specified the criteria, the president is not able to say, here’s a fourth criterion.’ Even this president lacks the power” to do that, Wishnie said.

Trump’s executive order invoked the national interest.

Sanctuary jurisdictions across the United States willfully violate Federal law in an attempt to shield aliens from removal from the United States. These jurisdictions have caused immeasurable harm to the American people and to the very fabric of our Republic,” it read in part.

Although Federal immigration law provides a framework for Federal-State partnerships in enforcing our immigration laws to ensure the removal of aliens who have no right to be in the United States, the Federal Government has failed to discharge this basic sovereign responsibility. We cannot faithfully execute the immigration laws of the United States if we exempt classes or categories of removable aliens from potential enforcement. The purpose of this order is to direct executive departments and agencies (agencies) to employ all lawful means to enforce the immigration laws of the United States.”

Local Opposition Sparked

Markeshia Ricks Photo

Matos at a recent pro-immigrant rights event.

Local immigrant-rights activists plan to hold a demonstration against Trump’s order at City Hall Thursday at 5 p.m.

President Donald Trump today declared war on immigrant families by targeting the cities that offer them sanctuary from hateful policies like the ones his administration is embracing,” said one of organizers, national immigrant-rights activist Kica Matos, declared Wednesday in a statement issued after Trump’s speech by Fair Immigration Reform Movement (FIRM).

By issuing an executive order to cut funding to the hundreds of cities and counties who have identified as sanctuaries for undocumented immigrants Trump is cementing his stamp of hatred and bigotry to a huge segment of our population. The faith community founded sanctuary cities to protect refugees and immigrants from harsh policies and will continue to do so. The immigrant rights community and its supporters will continue to fight hard to protect our families from all egregious policies.”

We are heartened that so many sanctuary cities, including New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles, have vowed to fight the Trump administration. We encourage all sanctuary cities and counties and all Americans who believe that keeping families together rather than tearing them apart is what our federal government should be focused on.”

New Haven officials have been preparing for Trump to launch the actions he announced Wednesday. School officials have drawn up a plan for helping schoolchildren if feds reprise the raid they conducted here in 2007. Harp has directed her corporation counsel to prepare a legal challenge to any federal action taken against the city based on a sanctuary city” designation.

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