House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) latest coronavirus plan includes a provision that forces American taxpayers to provide up to $1 billion in Justice Department grant funding to sanctuary cities that shield criminal illegal aliens from arrest and deportation.
On Tuesday, Pelosi released a revised version of House Democrats’ plan in the midst of the coronavirus, which includes:
Pelosi’s plan also includes forcing American taxpayers to provide federal grant funding to sanctuary jurisdictions that refuse to turn over criminal illegal aliens to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents for arrest and deportation.
The provision states:
$1 billion [in Byrne Justice Assistance Grants] to help prevent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus, including for purchasing personal protective equipment. Funds are to be distributed under the same requirements, conditions, compliance, and certification as 2016, thus preventing DOJ from blocking any of these funds from going to sanctuary jurisdictions. [Emphasis added]
Pelosi’s plan reverses former Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ implementation of Justice Department policy that cuts federal grant funding to sanctuary jurisdictions such as the sanctuary states of California, New York, Illinois, and New Jersey.
The reversal slipped into the coronavirus plan comes just a month after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled that the Trump administration has the authority to withhold federal grant money from sanctuary jurisdictions due to their failure to meet federal requirements that include abiding by federal immigration law.
The nation’s largest sanctuary jurisdictions – Los Angeles County, California and New York City, New York – release thousands of criminal illegal aliens every year. In 2018, New York City officials released close to 3,000 criminal illegal aliens back into communities. Meanwhile, Los Angeles County officials release up to 100 criminal illegal aliens every day.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.
