Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer recently filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration seeking an injunction prohibiting the U.S. Justice Department from again imposing potentially unconstitutional and unrelated conditions on the city for it to receive federal funding for anti-gang programs. Similar conditions were recently placed under court injunction for 2017 federal funds.

“Los Angeles again is standing up to the Trump administration’s attempt to hold federal public safety funding hostage,” Feuer said. “Again, the ransom is the imposition of civil immigration enforcement conditions on LAPD, conditions which would make all L.A. streets less safe. Court after court has ruled this Trump Administration overreach is unconstitutional. We will fight to uphold the rule of law and protect our city.”

Each year, the Department of Justice publishes applications for the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant, federal funding for states and cities to support local law enforcement. Since 1997, with the exception of 2017 (which is currently the subject of a pending case), Los Angeles has received over $1 million in funding each year.

Byrne JAG funding has previously been used to assist in funding the city’s Community Law Enforcement and Recovery program, which aims to reduce gang activity and violence in Los Angeles.

The city has submitted an application for 2018 Byrne JAG funding, and has yet to receive its authorized 2017 funding and other allocations that will result in a loss of valuable resources needed by the city to enhance local criminal justice efforts and advance public safety, Feuer said.

On July 25, 2017, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that pursuant to an executive order issued by Trump, new immigration compliance requirements would be placed on all Byrne JAG grant applications and jurisdictions that did not change their policies to comply would be ineligible for funding.

The U.S. Court of Appeals, 7th Circuit, as well as federal district courts, have placed an injunction on those conditions.

In April 2018, a U.S. district court found in the case City of Los Angeles vs. Sessions that the DOJ’s imposition of immigration-related conditions in a discretionary community policing grant was unlawful.

That decision imposed a nationwide injunction against the imposition of immigration-related conditions for grants.