By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com
Local police departments that cooperate with federal immigration officials were given preferential treatment for crime-fighting funds.
The Justice Department dangled more than $98 million as a reward for police departments that cooperate with President Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration by letting immigration officials inside local jails and notifying the feds about undocumented immigrants, BuzzFeed reports.
At the same time, Trump’s administration is threatening to withhold crime-fighting grants from so-called sanctuary cities.
The Justice Department is disbursing $98.5 million to 179 local law enforcement agencies to hire a total of 802 officers.
About 80% of the 179 agencies that received a grant were given preferential treatment because they have agreed to cooperate with the crackdown on illegal immigration.
“Cities and states that cooperate with federal law enforcement make all of us safer by helping remove dangerous criminals from our communities,” Sessions said in a statement. “Today, the Justice Department announced that 80 percent of this year’s COPS Hiring Program grantees have agreed to cooperate with federal immigration authorities in their detention facilities. I applaud their commitment to the rule of law and to ending violent crime, including violent crime stemming from illegal immigration.”
