BATON ROUGE, LA — Louisiana Attorney General
Jeff Landry joined West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey in filing a
brief urging a federal appeals court to overturn a lower court ruling and
enforce President Trump’s executive order regarding sanctuary cities.
The brief, signed by 11 Attorneys
General, argues that the establishment of sanctuary cities would undermine the
President’s immigration enforcement authority, which is given to the President
and Congress through the Constitution. A lower court ruled against the
president, prompting Attorneys General to file this brief to the federal
appeals court.
“Sanctuary cities undermine the rule of
law and rob our law enforcement officers of the tools they need to effectively
protect our communities,” said General Landry. “We have seen too many crimes
occur against our own State’s citizens due to sanctuary city policies; which is
why I have been actively fighting back against these policies since taking
office.”
President Trump’s executive order
directs U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions and the Secretary of the Department
of Homeland Security to ensure that sanctuary cities do not receive grant
dollars from specific federal programs. The order encourages states to comply
with existing federal law that promotes voluntary cooperation between federal
and state officials.
Earlier this year, Attorneys General Landry and
Morrisey led a multi-state coalition in defending President Trump’s executive
order directing the federal government to ensure municipalities complied with
laws prohibiting sanctuary cities.
“As I have said before, the President
and Congress are given the power to enforce the President’s Executive Order
while still being considerate of State’s rights,” said General Landry. “This
issue is a common sense issue, aimed strictly at protecting our citizens.”
Joining Louisiana and West Virginia in
the brief are Attorneys General from: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Kansas,
Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Texas.
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