Six states, including Massachusetts, along with New York City are suing the federal government, saying it is unlawfully forcing them to engage in federal immigration enforcement to receive anti-crime funds.
A Justice Department spokesman said the plaintiffs are cheating law-abiding citizens by making the legal move.
Lawsuits were filed Wednesday in Manhattan federal court on behalf of New York state and city, Connecticut, New Jersey, Washington, Massachusetts and Virginia.
They seek a judge's declaration that the policy change announced last year, and enforced beginning last month, is unconstitutional.
Lawyers for the states wrote in court papers that the Justice Department was forcing states to accept unlawful conditions that diminish their ability to set their law enforcement priorities and protect their communities.
DOJ spokesman Devin O'Malley commented after the lawsuits challenged the constitutionality of the federal government policies. From The New York Times:
In response to the lawsuits, Devin M. O’Malley, a Justice Department spokesman, said in a statement, “By choosing not to comply with a federal statute that promotes cooperation between local jurisdictions and federal immigration authorities, political leaders deliberately choose to protect criminal aliens in their custody and to make their communities less safe.”
Similar lawsuits have won court rulings blocking the federal action.
Zachary Carter, New York City's corporation counsel, said the federal government's efforts would cause immigrant communities to disengage from public service "and retreat into the shadows, to the detriment of their own safety and that of the public."
This report includes information from The Associated Press.
