LOS ANGELES, Aug. 22 (Xinhua) -- The city of Los Angeles announced Tuesday it would join a legal battle against the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) over its threat to cut millions of dollars in federal funding for so-called "sanctuary cities."
City Attorney Mike Feuer announced that his office has filed a lawsuit against the DOJ seeking an injunction "to prevent an arm of the Executive Branch of the United States Government from unconstitutionally seeking to wield authority it does not have to advance policy objectives it cannot lawfully effectuate - all at the potential expense of public safety in Los Angeles and other cities."
The lawsuit seeks to join similar legal battles that the state of California and the city of San Francisco lodged earlier this month against the DOJ over new conditions it has imposed on federal grants for local law enforcement. The city of Chicago is also suing the department over the matter in a separate suit.
The new conditions require police to cooperate with immigration enforcement officials in order to qualify for anti-crime funding. The conditions want jurisdictions to give federal immigration authorities access to their jails and to provide at least 48 hours' notice before releasing an undocumented immigrant in custody, according to U.S. media reports.
A sanctuary city is one that does not permit police or municipal employees to inquire about one's immigration status, or for funds to be applied to enforce federal immigration laws.
U.S. President Donald Trump vowed to "crack down" on sanctuary cities at a rally in Phoenix of the state of Arizona.
"We're suing to block the Trump Administration from unconstitutionally imposing its will on our city," Feuer said in a statement. "The administration would put L.A. to the untenable choice of risking a key public safety grant or making the LAPD an arm of federal civil immigration policy."
The lawsuit cites numerous grounds on which these conditions are unconstitutional. It alleged that the DOJ has no authority to impose the conditions at all, as only the U.S. Congress can attach substantive conditions to federal grants established by the Legislature, according to the Los Angeles City Attorney.
It also points out multiple reasons that the conditions violate Congress' intent in creating the grant program, which supports local criminal law enforcement, not civil federal immigration efforts.
Furthermore, the lawsuit notes that the 48-hour condition can be read to require Los Angeles to violate the 4th Amendment rights of arrestees by effectively requiring the Los Angeles Police Department to detain these individuals beyond the time they otherwise would be released.
The lawsuit was filed in San Francisco, where Los Angeles intends to join the California Attorney General, the City of San Francisco and others in challenging the new conditions.
