11/16/2017 Tungol Law Headline News "Judge Sides with Philadelphia in ‘Sanctuary Cities’ Case"

The Associated Press reports on a decision issued yesterday by a federal judge that blocked the U.S. government from withholding more than $1 million in funding for public safety equipment from the city of Philadelphia for being a “sanctuary city.” In his decision, U.S. District Judge Michael Baylson wrote “there is no conflict of any significance” between the federal government’s need to carry out immigration enforcement and the “city’s promotion of health and safety.” The decision follows others made by federal judges in recent months to block the Department of Justice’s efforts to cut federal public safety funds received by “sanctuary cities.”

U.S. District Judge Michael Baylson said in his decision that he weighed the public interest and possible harm that could come from withholding such funds.

“Both the federal government and the city of Philadelphia have important interests at stake here and the court does not minimize either of their concerns,” the judge wrote. “In this case, given Philadelphia’s unique approach to meshing the legitimate needs of the federal government to remove criminal aliens with the City’s promotion of health and safety, there is no conflict of any significance.”

Baylson is the latest in a number of federal judges around the country to block efforts by the Department of Justice to withhold funding from “sanctuary cities.”

Last month, a U.S. district judge in Chicago denied a request by the DOJ to lift a national freeze on the policy. And a Seattle judge declined to throw out a lawsuit brought by Seattle and Portland, Oregon, calling the DOJ’s threats “unconstitutionally coercive.”

Find more on this story here.

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