New York, NY-Today, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan overturned a lower court's decision ordering the administration to release funding to New York City and seven states — Massachusetts, New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, Washington, Virginia and Rhode Island. In New York State, the decision allows the Trump administration to withhold some discretionary funding in federal law enforcement grants from municipalities and counties with sanctuary policies in place such as New York City, Albany and Ithaca as well as from Westchester, Franklin, Nassau, Onondaga and St. Lawrence counties to force their cooperation with immigration enforcement. The ruling conflicted with three other federal appeals courts, in Chicago, Philadelphia and San Francisco, who upheld lower-court injunctions placed on the enforcement of some or all of the challenged conditions.
In response to the decision by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Steve Choi, Executive Director of the New York Immigration Coalition, issued the following statement:
“Today’s ruling essentially sanctions the federal administration’s extortion of cities who have enacted policies to ensure local control of law enforcement dollars and protect immigrant communities. Over the last two weeks, this administration has ratcheted up their obsession with bending New York to their hate-fueled anti-immigrant agenda, including by banning New Yorkers from Trusted Traveler Programs and militarizing our streets by sending a special ops team to our neighborhoods. But New Yorkers are made of sturdy stuff and we will not back down from the policies that we know keeps our streets and communities safe.”