The federal Department of Justice is withholding more than $2 million in law enforcement grants from Vermont pending a review of the state’s compliance with a federal law that requires local officials to cooperate with federal immigration authorities.
“These grants are the DOJ Byrne JAG grant and the DOJ COPS Anti-Heroin Task Force grant,” VSP spokesman Adam Silverman wrote in an email to Seven Days.
The feds are refusing to pay the state a promised $1.3 million toward heroin enforcement until Justice Department officials are convinced that Vermont is in compliance with federal law, according to Silverman. Another two grants, for about $480,000 each, are also on hold.
The federal law in question says that a “government entity or official may not prohibit, or in any way restrict, any government entity or official from sending to, or receiving from, the Immigration and Naturalization Service information regarding the citizenship or immigration status, lawful or unlawful, of any individual.”
Rep. Martin LaLonde (D-South Burlington) is the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, which heard testimony from Vermont State Police last week about the suspended grants.
“Of course we’re concerned,” LaLonde said Friday, adding that the committee plans to hear testimony from Public Safety Commissioner Tom Anderson about what his staff is doing to convince the Justice Department that Vermont is in compliance with federal law.
LaLonde said it’s too soon to determine whether legislative action could fix the situation. Both he and Silverman maintained that Vermont is in compliance with federal law, and LaLonde said he’d rather not see lawmakers change the state’s policy just to unlock the funds.
Rebecca Kelley, spokesperson for Gov. Phil Scott, wrote in an email Friday that Public Safety Commissioner Tom Anderson asked DOJ in November to offer specific examples of non-compliance with federal law.
Kelley said Anderson “heard back this week that the DOJ will be sending a response. In the meantime, he’s also secured assurance that once awarded —and we remain confident the funds will be awarded — the State will be reimbursed for expenses that would have been covered by the grant retroactively.”
While the situation creates a temporary hole in the budget for Vermont’s cops fighting the opiate crisis, it wasn’t entirely unexpected. In fact, the DOJ seems to be following through on threats by President Donald Trump and his former attorney general, Jeff Sessions. Both men cautioned that “sanctuary cities” and states with similar policies may lose their federal funds.
Vermont police are also required to follow a Fair and Impartial Policing policy, which is designed to foster trust between law enforcement and undocumented immigrants by discouraging cops from reporting anyone to immigration authorities in most situations.
According to Silverman, that policy is one of the sticking points for the feds.
Vermont Attorney General T.J. Donovan is backing a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the very same federal law that the Justice Department maintains Vermont is failing to follow.
In November, Vermont joined 11 other states and Washington, D.C., in a court filing supporting the State of California, which is challenging the constitutionality of the federal law. The coalition wrote in their brief that local governments have the right to direct their cops as they see fit — even if that means limiting their collaboration with federal immigration officials.
“Such limitations reflect local judgments about the policies and practices that are most effective for maintaining public safety and community health—values that lie at the core of the police power historically reserved for the states and often delegated to their local jurisdictions,” the brief says.
The Justice Department’s public affairs office did not immediately respond to a Seven Days inquiry on Friday.
Related Stories
Got something to say?
Send a letter to the editor and we'll publish your feedback in print!
Vermont officials determining which federal immigration laws they will ignore is kinda like the catholic diocese refusal to notify the cops about its pedophile priests.
Divisiveness in our Great country is not the result of President Trumps election. It existed before his Presidency. It became powerful and pervasive under Obama. When he and Justice Department choose to ignore federal law and encourage local War Lords (municipal, county and state government) to flaunt our constitutions and federal laws. Had he honored his oath to uphold the constitution and the laws of the land we would not discussing the absurdity of Vermont “aiding and abetting” illegal aliens.
It has become so bad:
That after 8 years of Obama’s resistance to the Constitution/Federal Law local governments feels it’s their right to become Feudal States with their own laws irrespective to the US Constitution and Federal law.
When the government actually trys to enforce the Constitution/Federal laws, violators cry foul. They try sue hoping to find judges that agree with their philosophies – not the Constitution.
That many believe violating the law and our expectation of “peace and tranquility” is not only acceptable, it is good.
The primary method the Government gains compliance to Federal laws is through funding. Every Federal Grant has a codicil about adhering to federal law; Title 9, the Highway Safety Act, etc. Why not the same standards for police grants?
What will be TJs arguments before the court: they didn’t tell us we’re obligated to adhere to or not obstruct Federal Laws; we’re a feudal kingdom not beholding to the US taxpayer providing the funds?
A county in Florida working with DOJ reduce opiate deaths by 23%. Major cities working with the DOJ have seen a decline in violent and gun crimes by 7%. That is over the steady rise in violent crimes under Obama’s DOJ.
So what is it to be working with the DOJ or standing on our own and failing miserably?
Semper Fi said “That is over the steady rise in violent crimes under Obama’s DOJ. “
That is false. According to the FBI crime stats, the rate of violent crimes declined 16% during Obama’s tenure (458.6 vs. 386.3 violent crimes per 100,000). Facts matter.
Very nice selective interpretation of recent history.
What made the Obama era “divisive” was that the Republicans set out to destroy his presidency from day one. And we all know why. Now they are reaping what they themselves sowed because they’ve got an out of control racist in the White House who is destroying the Republican Party.
I don’t see anything in this article pointing out that federal courts have ALREADY ruled that this kind of denail of grants is unconstitutional. So:
“A federal district court judge has ruled Attorney General Jeff Sessions conditions on grant funding to force so-called sanctuary cities to cooperate with immigration enforcement efforts as unconstitutional
Judge William Orrick, of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, sided with the state of California and city of San Francisco in their lawsuit challenging the requirements in granting their request for summary judgment Friday….
Orrick’s decision was in agreement with every court that has looked at these issues.
The judge said that the challenged conditions violate the separation of power and that the information-sharing law is unconstitutional.”
https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battl…
I dont understand why it is so hard to follow the rules. We are expected as citizens to follow the rules and do what the state and federal government tells us, like not drinking and driving for example. The consequences for citizens is possibly losing our licenses. What is the difference? I completely understand they are 2 different things but the theory is exactly the same; if you cannot follow the rules then you cant reap the benefits. The Obama administration has everyone believe that it is an entitlement to receive funds, healthcare, etc that they now feel the federal government is doing a dis justice but not providing funds they are used to be getting whether they followed the rules or not. Granted opioids are a huge problem, but if states like Vermont would wake up and understand that these types of things are not entitlements and that you have to have documentation to prove you are doing what you said you would things would be so much different. The entitlement era needs to end! The state of Vermont has a surplus of money, according to past articles made in different local papers, and they were trying to figure out what to do with it in 2018. How about we put that money to good use rather than demanding more. How about we stop giving our state politicians in Montpelier free money for lunch and hotels for the time they are in session or giving them cars to drive around for personal use, how much money would that save? They dont do anything anyway, just speak to local people in Montpelier that can see it.
Vermont has been given whatever they want under the previous administration and it is going to things like marijuana bills and things that are ridiculous rather than making sure schools are safe and children are getting a REAL education, not wine about finds they are not getting because they dont want to show they are not following the rules!
It is truly astonishing how far to the right today’s Democrats and so-called “progressives” have gone on the issue of immigration. In terms of actual policy they support, they are virtually indistinguishable from the Koch Brothers; Chamber of Commerce; and corporatist GOP, such as former Senator Spencer Abraham.
In the mid 1990’s, President Clinton’s Bipartisan Commission on Immigration Reform, led by African-American, Democratic Congresswoman and civil rights icon Barbara Jordan, issued recommendations. Including chain migration reform; elimination of the diversity visa lottery; reduction of legal immigration from the 1980’s & 1990’s average of 750,000 per year down to 550,000 per year; and stronger enforcement versus illegal immigration (including mandatory E-verify). The Commission had analyzed economic trends, including impact on labor, from NAFTA; increasing automation; and Reagan-era weakening of labor unions. In addition to labor groups, other traditional Democratic Party constituencies such as pro-environment groups supported the legislation Congress drafted based on the Jordan Commission. This was considered commonsense reform and supported by a majority of Democrats and the mainstream media. Unfortunately, in 1996, just before Congress was widely expected to pass the legislation, Ms. Jordan died; and Bill Clinton suddenly yanked his support. Something about an alleged quid pro quo b/c of illegal campaign financing to DNC from the Chinese (via John Huang); and b/c of corporate lobbying.
Now, for the last 2 years, Trump has supported all Jordan Commission recommendations and new legislation based on it (RAISE Act; efforts by Senator Grassley; Representative Goodlatte, etc) But Democrats instead oppose everything. Whether they realize it or not, Dems have completely abandoned labor and environment to carry water for Koch Brothers on this issue. Real shame b/c Trump Admin weakening some other rules with environment.
Note to writer: the Immigration and Naturalization Service has not existed for over a decade. It was wiped out during the creation of the Dept of Homeland Security after 9/11 and was replaced by a service that was full of Patriot Act racism and fear-mongering. The issue of policing is one left to the states by the Tenth Amendment, subject to other constitutional provisions. Immigration enforcement is NOT one of the constitutional provisions limiting the state’s right in this regard. The fact that Trump and his AGs like to trample our rights is no reason for this state to cave to them. We have every right to stand tall in our denying of federal overreaching and I, for one, am proud that we are doing so.
Love and/or hate can cloud ones thoughts. During the obama era, love of the man, his tone, his inflection, his spunk and his skin color drove millions to look at the world through rose colored glasses and embrace everything he said or did. This was done regardless of the damage his words and actions inflicted on our country. Loosening and ignoring the federal government’s duty under the constitution to protect the homeland and creating new executive orders to exacerbate illegal entry was a very destructive effort by obama but out of love for the man the democrats promoted it it. Now, everything President Trump is trying to do to uphold laws and protect the homeland is being thwarted by the democrats. The state of VT is trying to do everything they can to allow illegal immigration and make it as hard as possible for the feds to do their required jobs and protect us all. How stupid is this? It’s all done out of hate for one man and completely overlooks the implications to our country. This is what the democrats and their media, “entertainment” and education systems have accomplished. Their subversion is destroying this country. Many people are not capable of thinking on their own.