City of New Haven Signs on to Amicus Brief on Byrne Criminal Justice Assistance Grants
NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Today New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker announced New Haven has signed onto an amicus brief filed in a case pending before the U.S. Supreme Court. New York v. United States Department of Justice, No. 19-267 (2nd Cir. 2020) challenges the authority of the Department of Justice to require applicants for Byrne Criminal Justice Assistance grants to comply with certain conditions related to the Federal Government’s enforcement of immigration laws. The State of Connecticut joined with New York and other states as a plaintiff in the pending case.
More explicitly, the Department of Justice is requiring the Byrne Criminal Justice Assistant grant applicants to (1) comply with federal law prohibiting restrictions on the communication of immigration status information with federal authorities; (2) provide federal authorities, upon request, with the release dates of incarcerated illegal aliens; and (3) afford federal immigration officers access to incarcerated illegal aliens in correctional facilities.
As a result of the growing support for the State of New York in this case, the City of Chicago filed the amicus brief on behalf of thirty cities, counties, municipal agencies, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the National League of Cities, the International Municipal Lawyers Association, and the International City/Counties Management Association.
“Attorney General Barr and the Department of Justice should not be leveraging the need for grant funding as a means to coerce our cities and local and state entities to coordinate with immigration officials in the Federal Government,” stated Mayor Elicker. “This is simply unethical. In a time when we need to be supporting our municipalities, we should not use the divisive opinions of a few to further impact the funding that many towns and cities rely on,” he said.
Attached is the official notice from the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, granting the motion to file an amicus brief.
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