In San Francisco on Thursday, California Attorney General, Xavier Becerra in US District Court, sued the Justice Department and Attorney General Jeff Sessions, challenging the conditions on immigration enforcement that have been put on federal law enforcement assistance grants.
Around $28.9 million in grants from the Justice Department from a program called Justice Assistance Grants (JAG) is set to be given to California and some the state’s local governments in the 2018 fiscal year. However, the Department is forcing recipients to certify their compliance with some federal immigration laws, while they are also not obstructing federal officials carrying out those laws to receive them. A similar challenge was filed last year by Becerra on conditions attached to 2017 fiscal year grants, which is still pending before San Francisco US District Judge, William Orrick.
Two Philadelphia and Chicago federal judges have previously struck down the immigration conditions, though the government is now appealing those rulings. The lawsuit alleges that the conditions are against the US Constitution and interfere with the power of Congress to set laws and determine spending.
State attorneys claim that California is already complying with the JAG authorizing law conditions and with those laws providing assistance to the Department of Justice and federal immigration laws, but that the certification conditions are unauthorized by Congress and sometimes go beyond the federal laws that states are required to follow in helping the federal government with immigration enforcement.