Seattle Leaders Stand Their Ground as US Attorney General Threatens Sanctuary Cities with Loss of Justice Department Grants

“Pulling law-enforcement dollars from cities nationwide is the height of hypocrisy and makes us less safe,” Seattle Mayor Ed Murray said. Hannah K. Lee

On March 27, US attorney general Jeff Sessions issued a new warning to so-called “sanctuary jurisdictions.” He blasted cities, states, and counties that do not respond to federal detainer requests—non-warrant requests from immigration officials that ask local law enforcement and jails to hold suspects for an additional 48 hours to allow immigration officials to swoop in and attempt to deport them—and he threatened a loss of Department of Justice grants if sanctuary jurisdictions fail to comply with federal law.

But Sessions’s threat was carefully worded. While the Department of Homeland Security has called out King County for not abiding by these federal detainer requests, and while the City of Seattle maintains a policy that prevents city employees, including police, from asking about a person’s immigration status, local officials say that they do follow federal law and won’t be bullied by Sessions’s rhetoric.