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Chicago is plagued with violent crime. It suffered nearly 800 homicides last year, and thats only part of the picture. So why is Mayor Rahm Emanuel fighting so hard to make sure that immigration authorities dont pick up and deport criminal illegal aliens from his not-so-fair city?

Emanuel announced last weekend that Chicago would sue the Department of Justice over its guidelines concerning sanctuary cities and federal grant money. On Monday, the city did just that.

Whats Emanuel upset about? On July 24, Attorney General Jeff Sessions made it clear that if cities want to receive discretionary Justice Department grants intended to fight crime and improve local law enforcement, they must demonstrate that they are interested in fighting crime, not in obstructing enforcement of federal law--including immigration laws.

Specifically, Sessions memo states that only cities that comply with federal law, allow federal immigration access to detention facilities, and provide 48 hours notice before they release an illegal alien wanted by federal authorities will be eligible for the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program. Last year, Chicago received a $2.3 million grant through this program.

As Sessions noted, the so-called sanctuary policies of cities like Chicago make all of us less safe because they intentionally undermine our laws and protect illegal aliens who have committed crimes. In fact, such policies encourage illegal immigration and even human trafficking by perpetuating the lie that in certain cities, illegal aliens can live outside the law, according to Sessions.

Why would Emanuel even want to keep criminal aliens on the already mean streets of Chicago? One 2005 Government Accountability Office (GAO) study of 55,322 criminal aliens found that they had been arrested 459,614 times and committed almost 700,000 criminal offensesan average of 13 offenses per illegal alien. The crimes included everything from murder to robbery to sex-related assaults.

A 2011 GAO report told a similar sad story. Reviewing the records of 251,000 criminal aliens in federal, state, and local prisons and jails, it found they had been arrested nearly 1.7 million times for close to three million criminal offenses.

Had these offenders not been in the country, their victims would have been spared much suffering. Or if cities and states had notified Washington that they were about to release these repeat offenders, the feds could have picked them up and removed them from the country.

The sanctuary policies championed by Rahm Emanuel make that impossible. Yet he arrogantly boasts that Chicago will not be blackmailed into changing our values.

The value he seeks to uphold is the self-proclaimed right to flout federal law to protect known predators. Only the most twisted logic could equate withholding federal agency grants from a city that refuses to allow the federal agency to do its job to some form of blackmail.

Emanuels lawsuit makes the false argument that the federal government would force the City to detain individuals longer than justified by probable cause, solely to permit federal officials to investigate their immigration status. In fact, the Justice Department is simply asking the city to give the federal government 48 hours notice of its intent to release a criminal alien. That will give the feds time to pick up the offender.

The lawsuit also claims without foundation that this new DOJ memo effectively federalizes local detention facilities because it requires the city to give federal immigration officials access to local police stations and law enforcement facilities in order to interrogate any suspected noncitizens held there.

Giving federal authorities access to criminals in custody in no way federalizes local detention facilities. Under that absurd claim, local police and sheriffs would have to bar FBI agents and all federal law enforcement officers from interviewing prisoners in their facilities who are suspected of committing federal crimes.

The citys lawsuit demands that the federal court stop the Justice Department from imposing these unlawful and counterproductive conditions on applying for a DOJ grant. But if Chicago doesnt like these conditions, it should not apply for the money. To say there is any substance to this lawsuit is to give it too much credit.

In talking about the lawsuit, Rahm Emanuel misleadingly conflated legal immigrants with illegal immigrants, a common tactic of the left. Emanuel said, Half the patents at the University of Illinois come from immigrants, and so we want to continue to welcome people, welcome their ideas, welcome their families to the city of Chicago, who want to build the American dream for their children and their grandchildren.

There is no question that immigrants over many generations have made great contributions to, and have had lasting impacts on, American society. But contrary to the mayors narrative, that is wholly irrelevant to the discussion at hand. ICE is not going after legal immigrants. And the grant requirements that he is fighting concern only illegal aliens already in jail for committing crimes on top of entering the country illegally.

Mayor Emanuel says, Ive always seen Chicago as a welcoming city. But shielding hard-core criminals from federal law enforcement isnt welcomingits just inviting trouble.

Hans A. von Spakovsky is a Senior Legal Fellow at The Heritage Foundation and former Justice Department official. He is coauthor of Whos Counting? How Fraudsters and Bureaucrats Put Your Vote at Risk.

Benjamin Janacek is a member of the Young Leaders Program at The Heritage Foundation.

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Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel welcomes criminal aliens - Fox News

Illegal immigration across the southwest border surged 15 percent in July compared to the month before, Homeland Security announced Tuesday, signaling that President Trumps early success in stemming the flow of people jumping the border has begun to lessen.

The border patrol nabbed 13 percent more illegal immigrants last month than in June, while officers at the ports of entry saw a 23 percent spike in the number of inadmissible aliens showing up and demanding entry. The number of Border Patrol arrests is deemed a yardstick for the overall flow of people.

July usually sees a drop, so the surge signals a change in the usual seasonal patterns.

David Lapan, spokesman for Homeland Security, said theyre still trying to figure out what the trends mean.

The short answer is we dont know what all of those causes are, he told reporters.

The numbers of families and unaccompanied alien children (UAC), which have been particularly troublesome cases, also saw huge spikes. UAC were up 27 percent in Border Patrol statistics, while people traveling together as families surged 46 percent.

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Still, even with the rise month-to-month, the numbers are lower than they have been in years.

Customs and Border Protection officers at the ports of entry recorded 6,833 inadmissible aliens trying to enter. The Border Patrol, meanwhile, nabbed 18,198 illegal immigrants who snuck across the border.

The combined number of 25,031, while the highest under Mr. Trump, is still lower than any other month under President Obama dating back until December 2011.

Mr. Obama oversaw a deterioration at the border in his second term, with children and families streaming north from Central America, believing lax enforcement would give them a chance to earn a foothold in the U.S.

The Trump administration has been trying to dig out of that hole with a series of policies including targeting for deportation UAC and families whove had their day in immigration court but who are ignoring orders or removal.

Mr. Trump has also asked for money to begin building his border wall, with prototypes to be built later this year.

The president has repeatedly cited progress on the border as one of his major successes early in his tenure. He was so pleased with the progress that he pointed to it as one of the reasons he tapped former Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly to become his new chief of staff at the White House.

On a year-to-year basis, the gains are indeed stunning. In July 2016 the Border Patrol nabbed 33,737 illegal immigrants 85 percent more than this years total. Fewer people apprehended likely means fewer people crossing.

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Illegal immigration spikes in July; still lower than Obama years - Washington Times

The Department of Justice released new numbers Tuesday afternoon showing voluntary departures and deportations of illegal immigrants are up by 30 percent. Here are the numbers between February 1 and July 31, 2017:

Total Orders of Removal: 49,983

Up 27.8 percent over the same time period in 2016 (39,113)

Total Orders of Removal and Voluntary Departures: 57,069

Up 30.9 percent over the same time period in 2016 (43,595)

The court system has also streamlined a number of deportation cases to final decisions.

Total Final Decisions: 73,127

Up 14.5 percent over the same time period in 2016 (63,850)

DOJ officials are touting the numbers as a "return to the rule of law" under the Trump administration. For months the Department has been cracking down on sanctuary cities and Homeland Security has conducted a number of ICE raids to rid communities of violent criminal aliens.

"Pursuant to President Trumps Jan. 25 Executive Order, 'Border Security and Immigration Enforcement Improvements,' the Department of Justice mobilized over one hundred existing Immigration Judges to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) detention facilities across the country. Over 90 percent of these cases have resulted in orders requiring aliens to depart or be removed from the United States. The Justice Department has also hired 54 additional Immigration Judges since President Trump took office, and continues to hire new Immigration Judges each month," a statement released by DOJ Tuesday states.

"In addition to carrying out the Presidents Executive Order, the Justice Department is also reviewing internal practices, procedures, and technology in order to identify ways in which it can further enhance Immigration Judges productivity without compromising due process," the statement continues.

The increase can certainly be attributed to former Homeland Security Secretary General John Kelly, who is now serving as President Trump's chief-of-staff at the White House.

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DOJ: Illegal Immigrant Voluntary Departures and Deportations Up By 30 Percent Since Last Year - Townhall

The federal government, even after almost six months with President Donald Trump at the helm, continues to allow tens of thousands of illegal immigrant children into the country taking them to relatives across the land.

In a sweeping executive order on immigration in January, Trump ordered changes to the way the federal government deals with unaccompanied minors from Central America crossing the Mexico-U.S. border. A memorandum by then-Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly the following month called for prosecuting would-be sponsors in the United States who themselves are illegal immigrants.

But it does not appear to have changed much on the ground. When U.S. Border Patrol officers encounter non-Mexican youths alone on the U.S. side of the border, they turn them over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, who in turn transfer them to the Office of Refugee Resettlement.

"I confirmed with our HQ people, and we have not changed anything," Customs and Border Protection spokesman Roger Maier told LifeZette in an email.

Department of Homeland Security officials told The New York Times about two months ago that some illegal immigrants sponsors who had paid smugglers had been arrested. But statistics from the Office of Refugee Resettlement suggest the overall numbers have been unaffected. The agency from October through June placed 37,586 children with sponsors in the United States. That roughly equals the 38,845 youths who either got apprehended after sneaking across the border or turned themselves in a border-crossing station.

Brandon Judd, president of the National Border Patrol Council, said decision-makers in the Department of Homeland Security have failed to carry out Trump's will.

"The problem with that is we're seeing a pickup of traffic again The rhetoric worked, but the powers that be didn't follow though in the president's promises," he said.

Again, statistics bear that out. After plummeting from 4,407 in January to 997 in April, illegal border crossings by unaccompanied children in the southwestern United States have climbed two straight months. The 1,961 figure in June, the most recent month available, was 1,961 the highest since January.

That trend mirrors an overall increase in border crossings by illegal immigrants. Apprehensions increased from 11,126 in April to 16,089 in June.

Concern Over 'Catch and Release' The failure to change procedures involving children is part of a larger concern that the Trump administration has not fully turned away from the "catch and release" policies of former President Barack Obama.

Judd said immigration enforcement officers have altered the way they deal with adults caught crossing the border, but he added that the changes have been hampered by a lack of detention space. That is not an issue with youths, he said.

Unaccompanied Children in America

Source: Office of Refugee Resettlement

"There is space to hold them, but they've made a policy decision not to hold them," he said.

Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies at the Washington-based Center for Immigration Studies, said the statistics and comments by Judd are troubling.

"It is not much different, maybe not at all different, from what the Obama administration did," she said.

Research sponsored earlier this year by the Center for Immigration Studies found that more than a third of youths placed with host families failed to show up for immigration hearings. The Associated Press reported that 80 percent of the children 106,802 went to sponsors who are illegal immigrants themselves.

"And I think it's terrible policy to encourage the government to complete the job of the coyotajes It's just a funnel and encourages this flow."

Sporadic raids targeting unaccompanied minors with final deportation orders, including one last month, have resulted in a handful of arrests. But experts contend it would represent a monumental task to locate and remove all of them.

Part of the justification for the policy has been the need to comply with the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act, a 2000 law designed to help children who are victims of trafficking and violence. Critics, however, contend that the children arriving at the border from Central America are coming because relatives have paid smugglers; they are not trafficking victims.

"If that's all it is, it's not governed by anti-trafficking law," said Christopher Hajec, director of litigation at the Immigration Reform Law Institute. "And I think it's terrible policy to encourage the government to complete the job of the coyotajes It's just a funnel and encourages this flow."

Crisis First Flared in 2014 The unaccompanied minor crisis flared in the summer of 2014 the result, many argue, of a misinterpretation of Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, which granted quasi-amnesty to illegal immigrants whose parents earlier had brought them to the United States.

The surge waned in 2015 and then picked up again the following year. Arrivals are now on a pace to nearly equal fiscal year 2016. Vaughan said families and smugglers are responding to the credible belief that U.S. authorities will not block the youths from staying once they arrive.

"A few of us have been saying that all along The smugglers know our policies better than Americans do," she said.

Vaughan said the federal government could send counter signals by aggressively prosecuting parents who pay smugglers to bring their children to America.

Ira Mehlman, a spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, said the government could learn from the way former President Bill Clinton responded to a similar challenge in the 1990s, when travelers began flushing passports down airplane toilets and then claiming asylum. Clinton sent adjudicators to major airports to make quick determinations about those claims and return people whose claims were baseless.

The Trump administration could do something similar at the border, Mehlman said. He also said Congress could change the trafficking law to make a distinction between true victims and the clients of smugglers.

"This was legislated by Congress; the change should come from Congress," he said.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions agreed, noting that unaccompanied minors sometimes are MS-13 gang members and sometimes get exploited by the gang.

"It can be ended, and it must be ended," he told Fox News host Tucker Carlson last week.

Trump's initiatives to crack down on "sanctuary" jurisdictions and temporarily bar travelers from six terrorism-compromised countries already have ended up in court. Vaughan said any move against the Central American youths would bring a similar fate.

"There's certainly going to be a legal challenge, and maybe they think they have about enough of those right now," she said.

(photo credit, article image: Pride Immigration)

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'Catch and Release' of Unaccompanied Illegal Immigrant Minors on the Rise - LifeZette

A D.C. suburb in Maryland is considering a plan that would give undocumented immigrants the right to vote, making their city the largest in the Old Line State to do so.

The city, which is home of the University of Marylands main campus and nearly 30,000 residents, is weighing approval of the new measure to let noncitizens cast ballots for mayor and City Council, The Baltimore Sunreported Sunday.

Supporters of the measure say that local elections focus on issues like trash collection, and other municipal services and they are issues that affect residents of the city, regardless of their citizenship status.

These are folks who have a significant stake in our community, and who rely on the facilities in our city, College Park City Councilwoman Christine Nagle, who is sponsoring the measure, said to the newspaper. To me, it just made sense.

Others in the community say that immigrants should not have a say until they have completed the process of becoming a citizen.

"On a personal level, I do not agree that noncitizens should be voting," College Park City Councilwoman Mary C. Cook said before adding that she will listen to her constituents before making a decision.

Jeff Werner, an advocate for tighter immigration restrictions with the advocacy group Help Save Maryland told the newspaper that he felt even more strongly about undocumented immigrants going to the voting booth.

What gives them that privilege? He asked.

A total of 10 municipalities across two counties allow noncitizens to vote in local elections. Voters in Takoma Park, a liberal enclave in Montgomery County, narrowly approved a referendum in making the town one of the first to allow the practice in Maryland.

It was preceded by Barnesville a small town near Sugarloaf Mountain in Montgomery County has allowed noncitizens to vote since 1918 and Somerset, which approved noncitizen voting in 1976.

The number of communities in Maryland adopting the measure has surged in recent months. Hyattsville in Prince Georges County approved immigrant voting just last year, followed by Mount Rainier, also in Prince Georges County.

The College Park proposal like the other municipalities, does not distinguish between legal permanent residents and undocumented immigrants.

Those in favor of the policy say thats by design.

We very intentionally made it so that we did not have questions about citizenship status, said Patrick Paschall, a former member of the Hyattsville council who championed the legislation there said to the Sun. It undermines the premise of noncitizen voting to try to draw a distinction.

Click here for more from The Baltimore Sun.

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Maryland city mulling over idea to let illegal immigrants vote - Fox News