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Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet urged U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions to immediately suspend immigration-related conditions on funding essential to Colorado’s law enforcement services in rural and urban communities.
Titre original
Bennet Urges Justice Department to Remove Irrational Conditions on Colorado Funding
Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet urged U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions to immediately suspend immigration-related conditions on funding essential to Colorado’s law enforcement services in rural and urban communities.
Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet urged U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions to immediately suspend immigration-related conditions on funding essential to Colorado’s law enforcement services in rural and urban communities.
MICHAEL F. BENET WASIINGTON,
AGRICULTURE, NUTRITION, AND FORESTRY Wnited States Senate age
FINANCE WASHINGTON, DC 20510-0609
HEALTH, EDUCATION, LABOR,
[AND PENSIONS
October 4, 2018
The Honorable Jeff Sessions
Attorney General
USS, Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530-0001
RE: FY 2017 Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Funds
Dear Attorney General Sessions:
L write on behalf of the State of Colorado and 32 Colorado applicants —including law
enforcement agencies, restorative justice programs, municipalities, judicial districts, human
service agencies, housing authorities, and tribes—to express grave concerns regarding the
arbitrary immigration-related certification terms attached to Edward Byrne Memorial Justice
Assistance Grant (JAG) program funds for Fiscal Year 2017. The Justice Department announced
these conditions without engaging in the proper rulemaking process. As a result, Colorado's $2.7
million in JAG funding is subject to capricious conditions for communities across the state. It is
also my understanding that this rulemaking is subject to litigation.
As you know, the JAG funds support a vast range of essential law enforcement services from the
largest cities to the most rural communities. Unfortunately, the Justice Department first delayed
the release of this year’s funding and later attached unrelated and controversial immigration-
related conditions to its distribution. As a result, Colorado communities and orgat
forced to either accept the uncertainty and cost associated with these controversial immigration-
related conditions or provide the same services without those critical funding resources.
For example, in the rural town of Granada in Southeast Colorado, these funds support a full-time
clerk in a police department with only one full-time officer, a part-time clerk, and two volunteer
reserve officers, At the Denver Justice High School, JAG funds support a dedicated position
focused on reducing criminal behavior and truancy with youth. And in the 12th Judicial District
in the San Luis Valley—where the opioid epidemic strains services and budgets—a treatment
court attomey was diverted to another caseload when its JAG funds, which were already
committed as part of a four-year funding award, did not arrive.
Many communities across Colorado are unsure about how to enforce the Justice Department's
immigration-related conditions. Although a federal court recently issued a preliminary injunction
blocking these requirements for applicants who are members of the U.S, Conference of Mayors,
uncertainty remains as to which municipalities and organizations are subject to the injunction. In
addition, by not following proper rulemaking procedures, including allowing the state and all
applicants an opportunity to comment on the certification terms, the state agency tasked with
distributing the funds is not equipped with sufficient expertise to interpret the Justice
Department's vague and arbitrary conditions.‘These unprecedented conditions are the latest in a pattern by this Administration of attaching
strings to critical federal funding. In effect, the conditions are directly harming states like
Colorado that use JAG funds to keep their communities safe. I urge you to suspend the
conditions immediately unt the litigation is resolved and allow state agencies to accept and
distribute JAG funds under the grant conditions required in the past.
‘Thank you for your consideration in this matter.
Sincerely,
Ne ES
Michael F, Bennet
United States Senator