CHICAGO, Illinois-- Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has a message for President Donald Trump: see you in court.
Emanuel is taking the Trump administration to court, as Chicago is set to become the first city to sue over new immigration rules. The mayor is taking a stand against the president's immigration policies, specifically the new requirements that tie federal funding to cooperation with immigration enforcement.
"Chicago will never be put in a situation of a false choice between being a welcoming city and the principles - as I said - of community policing," Mayor Emanuel announced Sunday.
"It is a false choice and a wrong choice. Chicago will not let our officers become political pawns in a debate. Chicago will not let our residents have their fundamental rights isolated and violated. And, Chicago will never relinquish our status as a welcoming city."
Monday morning, the city will file a lawsuit in federal court against Attorney General Jeff Sessions. City officials say complying with the new requirements just to get federal money violates Chicago's "welcoming city" ordinance: a law that bans Chicago police from giving federal officials access to people in custody, bans ICE agents from police facilities for interrogations, and bars cops from sharing immigration status information.
"Our job is to investigate crime," Chicago Police Dept. Superintendent Eddie Johnson explains. "Our job is not to investigate immigration status."
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has a starkly different view, calling upon "every sanctuary city to reconsider carefully the harm they are doing to their residents by refusing to cooperate with federal law enforcement, to re-think these policies."
So far, Chicago is the only city to sue the Trump administration over this issue.
But Mayor Emanuel says he expects other major cities like New York, Los Angeles, Boston, and San Francisco to join the legal fight in the near future.