Emanuel trickles out details about lawsuit against Trump's Justice Department

Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Sunday trickled out some new details about the city’s impending lawsuit against President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice as part of a dayslong rollout of the mayor’s latest effort to counter the administration’s immigration policies.

Emanuel said U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ plan to withhold some federal grants from local police in so-called sanctuary cities violated the Constitution, stymied police anti-crime efforts and threatened the city’s long history as a place where immigrants have prospered.

“Chicago will not let our police officers become political pawns in a debate,” Emanuel said. “Chicago will not let our residents have their fundamental rights isolated and violated. And Chicago will never relinquish our status as a welcoming city.”

Those are themes the mayor has sounded repeatedly since Trump — whose campaign for office was built in part on a pledge to crack down on illegal immigration — last year became the presumptive Republican nominee. Emanuel’s message is viewed as politically advantageous in an overwhelmingly Democratic city with a minimal number of Trump supporters and a significant Latino population.

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