Chicago Suing Justice Department, Science News, Mondays With Mike

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Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced plans to file a lawsuit against President Trump’s Department of Justice for its policy on sanctuary cities. A legal expert will tell us how cities are fighting the Trump administration in immigration policies. To learn about the people and animals of the past, researchers are increasingly looking at proteins rather than bones or DNA. A science writer shares why proteins are so packed with information, and updates us on some other exciting science news. During Mondays with Mike, WPR’s Associate Director talks about upcoming program changes and takes your questions and comments.

Featured in this Show

  • Chicago Suing Justice Department For Efforts To Cut Funding To Sanctuary Cities

    Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced that the city would sue President Trump’s Department of Justice for threats to withhold federal funding from sanctuary cities. We talk to a legal expert about the lawsuit and the ongoing immigration debate between the federal government and local governments.

  • Chicago Sues Justice Department For Efforts To Cut Funding To Sanctuary Cities

    Sanctuary cities have come under criticism by the Trump administration for not enforcing federal immigration policy and providing immigration authorities with specific information on immigrants living in the United States illegally.

    That debate was escalated by the city of Chicago, which filed a lawsuit Monday against the Justice Department for threatening to cut funding to sanctuary cities.

    Last week, the Justice Department added a new condition for cities that want to receive funding through the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Grant, a federal public safety grant that Chicago, Milwaukee, and other cities have previously received.

    Under the new criteria, cities would be required to give federal immigration authorities access to local detention facilities, and would also need to give the Department of Homeland Security 48 hours notice before releasing a detained immigrant suspected of living in the country illegally and wanted by federal authorities.

    The city’s mayor, Democrat Rahm Emanuel said the Justice Department’s latest effort forces the city to choose between grant money and its values as an immigrant-friendly city that believes in community policing.

    “We want you to come to Chicago if you believe in the American dream,” Emanuel told CNN’s Poppy Harlow on Monday. “By forcing us, or the police department, to choose between the values of the city and the philosophy of the police department, in community policing, I think it’s a false choice and it undermines our actual safety agenda.”

    Nadav Shoked, an associate professor of law and expert in local government law at Northwestern University, told WPR’s “Central Time” that Chicago is filing the lawsuit on various grounds. The city’s strongest argument is the Justice Department does not have the right to withhold the grant money without the consent of Congress, he said.

    “Congress created this specific grant … and set specific criteria for the award of that grant,” Shoked said. “Those criteria have to do with the size of the state and the amount of violent crime taking place there. That statute, so the city claims, leaves no discretion to the … Justice Department for imposing new conditions as they are now.”

    In Wisconsin, there have been efforts to crack down on sanctuary cities within the state Legislature. Assembly Bill 127 was introduced earlier this year and would allow state residents to sue their local government if they believe it is not enforcing federal immigration policies.

    While Chicago is getting national attention for being one of the first challengers to the Justice Department’s sanctuary cities policy, Shoked doesn’t think it is likely the new criteria to receive the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Grant will be enough to change the city’s stance on immigration, because it is less than 1 percent of the city’s budget.

    “Even if Chicago loses this particular battle … it in all likelihood will tell the federal government, ‘Fine, I’m not taking the money. It’s not such a huge amount of money from my perspective, and I’ll continue on doing what I’m doing.’”

    Shoked said unless the federal government decides to withhold larger sums of money that would go to efforts that are unrelated to policing, which he said would be much more difficult to defend in court, he doesn’t expect sanctuary cities to change their policy on immigrants living in the country illegally.

    “It’s tough for me to imagine many cities just dropping their sanctuary policies just because of this,” Shoked said.

  • Mondays With Mike–Programming Changes On The Ideas Network

    WPR Director of Content Mike Arnold joins the show for a look at the latest news from WPR, including changes to the programming schedule on the Ideas Network. And he’s happy to take your questions and comments as well.

Episode Credits

  • Rob Ferrett Host
  • Veronica Rueckert Host
  • Haleema Shah Producer
  • Judith Siers-Poisson Producer
  • Nadav Shoked Guest
  • Mike Arnold Guest

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