CHICAGO (AP) — A federal judge in Chicago has denied a request by the U.S. Department of Justice to lift a freeze on a Trump administration policy that would withhold public safety grants to so-called sanctuary cities that don’t agree to tougher enforcement of U.S. immigration law
A Friday ruling by U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber comes a month after he imposed a preliminary injunction blocking the administration from tying the grants to two new conditions, including that cities give immigration agents easy access to local jails.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions argued it was wrong to apply the order nationally in a lawsuit filed by Chicago. He said the injunction should only have been applied to Chicago.
But Leinenweber says in his written ruling that the legal issues impact cities and counties nationwide and so a nationwide injunction is appropriate.
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