Justice Department warns four cities: Help us with immigration enforcement or lose our help on crime

In another move to pressure cities to cooperate with immigration enforcement, the Justice Department threatened Thursday to withhold crime-fighting help from four cities — two in California — if they refuse to hand over migrants in the country illegally to federal agents.

The department sent warning letters to police chiefs in San Bernardino and Stockton in California as well as to officials in Baltimore and Albuquerque. All had expressed interest in joining a program that puts federal law enforcement manpower in cities struggling with violent crime.

The letters are the latest effort by the Trump administration to crack down on so-called sanctuary cities, the subject of one of the president’s first executive orders in January. Despite repeated threats and announcements, the Justice Department has not cut law enforcement funding to any of the affected communities.

The latest letter arguably carries less weight, because it says the four cities risk being declared ineligible to join a program in which they don’t yet participate. It does not threaten current law enforcement funding.

The letters asked the four cities to declare by Aug. 18 if they will allow Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents into jails to question detainees, if they will give 48 hours notice before releasing someone suspected of violating immigration law, and if they will honor ICE requests to hold a foreign national for up to 48 hours past his or her scheduled release date.

That last provision is likely to meet with protests and legal challenges.

But a Justice Department spokesman said Thursday that the new requests are “considerations, not requirements,” suggesting the threat is relatively weak.

The Public Safety Partnership program was announced in June and is a training and technical-assistance program intended to help local police fight drug trafficking and gang violence.

Twelve cities have enrolled so far, including Houston, which is challenging a Texas law that would compel cities to turn over immigrants. The four cities named Thursday have expressed interest in applying.

In a statement Thursday, Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions, a strong proponent of lowering immigration, linked illegal immigration with increased urban crime.

“By protecting criminals from immigration enforcement, cities and states with so-called ‘sanctuary’ policies make all of us less safe,” he said.

“These policies are driven by politics and do not protect their citizens,” he added. “We will fight them with every lawful tool available.”

Last week, the Justice Department announced that unless local jurisdictions agree to let federal agents into local jails to pick up people suspected of immigration violations, they risk losing their share of federal grants that total $380 million next year.

As with some other immigration initiatives, the Trump administration’s sanctuary city crackdown has been frustrated by federal courts.

A judge in San Francisco has ruled that the administration can’t withhold federal funding from cities that don’t cooperate with federal efforts to deport migrants. That case is still ongoing, along with other challenges to Trump’s order.

But Sessions has continued to push the cause aggressively, condemning sanctuary city policies in speeches across the country and trying to use his department’s leverage over law enforcement grants.

The term “sanctuary city” hasn’t been clearly defined under the law, and that has created some confusion and glitches in the administration’s efforts.

The Department of Homeland Security started a program to shame non-compliant cities, but it was suspended in April after just three weeks because of errors.

Some cities objected to their inclusion on the list, saying they did not honor detention requests from ICE but cooperated in other ways.

joseph.tanfani@latimes.com

Twitter: @jtanfani