Justice Department threatens Denver with subpoena over sanctuary city policies

The Justice Department on Wednesday demanded the City and County of Denver turn over any documents related to sanctuary city policies or face a federal subpoena.

The letter was written to police chief Robert White.

“Documents Requested: All documents reflecting any orders, directives, instructions, or guidance to your law enforcement employees (including, but not limited to, police officers, correctional officers, and contract employees), whether formal or informal, that were distributed, produced, and/or in effect during the relevant timeframe, regarding whether and how these employees may, or may not, communicate with the Department of Justice, the Department of Homeland Security, and/or Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or
their agents, whether directly or indirectly,” the letter read.

Councilman Paul Lopez said Denver would comply “with ICE when we see judicial warrant just like every other enforcement agency has to acquire per the Constitution.”

Lopez emphasized the city is not in violation of any U.S. code and that there is no legal definition of a sanctuary city.

Denver Mayor Michael Hancock issued a statement on Twitter saying in part, “Denver doesn’t violate federal law, and we won’t be intimidated.”

Hancock added that he will not attend a meeting he had been invited to at the White House following the letter.

{“url”:”https://twitter.com/MayorHancock/status/956261455589867520″,”author_name”:”Michael B. Hancock”,”author_url”:”https://twitter.com/MayorHancock”,”html”:”&#lt;blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”&#gt;&#lt;p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”&#gt;Denver doesn’t violate federal law, and we won’t be intimidated. And on the same day he has the audacity to invite mayors to the WH to discuss infrastructure. No, won’t be going to the WH today, better things to do than be part of a photo op for 45 as he threatens cities again.&#lt;/p&#gt;— Michael B. Hancock (@MayorHancock) &#lt;a href=”https://twitter.com/MayorHancock/status/956261455589867520?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”&#gt;January 24, 2018&#lt;/a&#gt;&#lt;/blockquote&#gt;n&#lt;script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″&#gt;&#lt;/script&#gt;n”,”width”:550,”height”:null,”type”:”rich”,”cache_age”:”3153600000″,”provider_name”:”Twitter”,”provider_url”:”https://twitter.com”,”version”:”1.0″}

It was part of the ramped-up pressure on so-called sanctuary cities seeking public safety grant money, warning state and local officials they could be legally forced to prove they are cooperating with federal immigration authorities.

Officials sent letters to 23 jurisdictions threatening to issue subpoenas if they don’t willingly relinquish documents showing they aren’t withholding information about the immigration status of people in custody.

The department has repeatedly threatened to deny millions of dollars in important grant money from communities that refuse to share such information with federal authorities, as part of the Trump administration’s promised crackdown on cities and states that refuse to help enforce U.S. immigration laws.

Many cities have been openly defiant in the face of the threats, with lawsuits pending in Chicago, Philadelphia, and California over whether the administration has overstepped its authority by seeking to withhold grant money.

The 23 jurisdictions that received letters Wednesday include Chicago, New York, Los Angeles and the states of Illinois, Oregon, and California.

Officials said the places have been previously warned that they need to provide information about their policies to be eligible to receive grants that pay for everything from bulletproof vests to officer overtime.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions has blamed “sanctuary city” policies for crime and gang violence, saying Wednesday, “we have seen too many examples of the threat to public safety represented by jurisdictions that actively thwart the federal government’s immigration enforcement_enough is enough.”

But defenders of sanctuary city practices say they actually improve public safety by promoting trust among law enforcement and immigrant communities and reserving scarce police resources for other, more urgent crime-fighting needs.

{“url”:”https://twitter.com/JoeStGeorge/status/956226483844014080″,”author_name”:”Joe St. George”,”author_url”:”https://twitter.com/JoeStGeorge”,”html”:”&#lt;blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”&#gt;&#lt;p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”&#gt;Breaking: &#lt;a href=”https://twitter.com/TheJusticeDept?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”&#gt;@TheJusticeDept&#lt;/a&#gt; sends a letter to Denver demanding documents and threatening subpeana over belief Denver is a sanctuary city. Denver one of 23 cities across US targeted today. Here is the letter: &#lt;a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/kdvr?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”&#gt;#kdvr&#lt;/a&#gt; &#lt;a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/kwgn?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”&#gt;#kwgn&#lt;/a&#gt; &#lt;a href=”https://t.co/5HVt8eC1OE”&#gt;pic.twitter.com/5HVt8eC1OE&#lt;/a&#gt;&#lt;/p&#gt;— Joe St. George (@JoeStGeorge) &#lt;a href=”https://twitter.com/JoeStGeorge/status/956226483844014080?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”&#gt;January 24, 2018&#lt;/a&#gt;&#lt;/blockquote&#gt;n&#lt;script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″&#gt;&#lt;/script&#gt;n”,”width”:550,”height”:null,”type”:”rich”,”cache_age”:”3153600000″,”provider_name”:”Twitter”,”provider_url”:”https://twitter.com”,”version”:”1.0″}