Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced that the City of Chicago has filed a federal lawsuit to prevent President Donald Trump’s Justice Department from making a federal crime prevention grant that is critical to public safety efforts conditional on unrelated and unlawful immigration enforcement actions. “Community policing is a guiding philosophy of the Chicago Police Department, but it cannot succeed when a segment of the community is afraid to cooperate or communicate with the police,” said Mayor Emanuel. “Chicago is a welcoming City and always will be, and we will not be blackmailed by President Trump’s Justice Department. Forcing us to choose between our values and our Police Department’s philosophy of community policing is a false choice, and it is a choice that would ultimately undermine our public safety agenda.” Mayor Emanuel, Corporation Counsel Ed Siskel and Chicago Police Department Superintendent Eddie Johnson announced the City’s intent to file the lawsuit at a press conference early August.

On Thursday, August 3, 2017, the U.S. Department of Justice published the application for FY2017 Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) program, which provides states and cities with federal funding to support local law enforcement efforts. Unlike previous applications, this year’s iteration requires that new conditions be met by local municipalities in order to be eligible for grant funding. These conditions include the certification of compliance with 8 U.S.C. § 1373, a federal statute that bars restrictions on federal-local sharing of immigration status information; unlimited access to local police stations and law enforcement facilities by U.S. Department of Homeland Security personnel to interrogate arrestees; and the requirement that cities provide DHS with at least a 48 hour notice prior to an arrestee’s release, which would require detaining residents longer than is permissible under the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution. These conditions effectively federalize local detention facilities and violate the Fourth Amendment in instances where detainees are otherwise lawfully eligible for release from police custody. The City of Chicago is being supported in its legal efforts on this issue by two outside law firms, Riley Safer and Wilmer Hale, who are providing their services pro bono.