Author: Jonathan Allen and Joseph Akers
Jan 14 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he would cut off federal funding next month to any state that includes sanctuary cities, expanding his attack on the largely Democratic-run city after days of clashes in Minneapolis.
Trump’s vow on social media echoed comments he first made during a speech in Detroit on Tuesday, when he said that starting Feb. 1 he would stop payments to any state with sanctuary cities that restrict local authorities from cooperating with federal immigration officials.
Any such efforts would undoubtedly be challenged in court. A federal judge in August blocked a previous attempt to freeze funds for more than 30 asylum jurisdictions unless they cooperated with his immigration crackdown.
Shooting sparks protests
Trump’s statement comes as tensions rise in Minneapolis, a week after a U.S. immigration officer shot and killed 37-year-old U.S. citizen Renee Good in her car.
The shooting sparked protests in the city and elsewhere, and the Trump administration responded by sending hundreds of additional federal agents to Minneapolis over the objections of Democratic Mayor Jacob Frey.
There are nearly 3,000 federal police officers in the Minneapolis area, a number that dwarfs the city’s 600 sworn police officers, according to state officials.
Cellphone videos shared on social media and by Reuters and other news outlets captured chaotic clashes between federal agents and residents, who shouted obscenities and whistled, during a sweep of immigrants living illegally in the city.
In some cases, police responded to protesters with pepper balls and pepper spray.
Federal investigation into shootings under review
City and state officials have accused federal officers of conducting indiscriminate street stops based on residents’ apparent ethnicity or race.
The leader of the Oglala Sioux tribe in South Dakota is calling on the U.S. government to release three tribal members detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Minneapolis.
The tribal members were homeless and living under a bridge when they were detained by ICE last week, according to a letter Tuesday from Oglala Sioux President Frank Star Comes Out to federal officials.
Star Comes Out said the tribe members are U.S. citizens and their detention violates the tribe’s treaty with the United States.
Trump and other administration officials have defended Goode’s shooting as self-defense and said she tried to run over the officer with her car, even though video showed her turning the wheel away from him as she drove forward.
Minnesota authorities have launched a criminal investigation into whether the agents who killed Goode violated state law after they said the federal government withdrew from a joint investigation. At least six federal prosecutors have resigned over demands from Justice Department leaders to investigate Goode’s widow, Reuters reported, deepening scrutiny of the Justice Department’s investigative methods.
Minnesota asks judge to halt operations
Trump did not specify which states would face funding cuts as a result of his threatened actions, but the Justice Department in August released a list of “sanctuary jurisdictions” in 19 states and the District of Columbia. These states are home to nearly 160 million people, just under half of the U.S. population.
On Wednesday morning, the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office asked U.S. District Judge Kate Menendez to issue a temporary order blocking the Trump administration from sending a large number of immigration agents to Minneapolis and surrounding areas.
Minnesota attorney Brian Carter told the judge that Trump has sent about 2,800 “masked, heavily armed agents” into the area, more than the police in Minneapolis and neighboring St. Paul combined. The state said the officers engaged in “unlawful acts of violence,” including racial profiling and unauthorized entry into residents’ homes.
“Your honor, the harm that continues here is intolerable,” he said.
Andrew Worden, a Justice Department lawyer representing the Trump administration, said the federal government would oppose any state efforts to limit federal law enforcement activities.
The judge set a deadline next week for both sides to respond before deciding how to rule.
(Reporting by Jonathan Allen; Additional reporting by Andrew Hay and Brad Brooks; Writing by Joseph Akers; Editing by Rod Nickell)
