Trump to Chicago: Obey the Law or Lose Your Allowance

Chicago is one of the greatest cities in the world. Economically, the Windy City has proven its mettle over the past century, exploding onto the world stage as a major force in finance, real estate, entertainment, culture, and on and on.

Unfortunately, under the misbegotten liberal policies of decades of Democrats, the city is in imminent danger of collapse. Crime rates are soaring as the city’s leadership fails to do what is necessary to crack down on the gang violence. At a time like this, Mayor Rahm Emanuel should be doing anything and everything he can to work with the federal government to procure resources that can help stem the tide of violence and ensure that Chicago – already experiencing a massive outflow of businesses and residents – doesn’t follow Detroit into the annals of economic American wastelands.

Instead, this fool is filing suit against the Trump administration.

Emanuel is in no position to turn his back on federal funds. The good news is – he doesn’t have to. The only thing he needs to do to make sure that Chicago law enforcement agencies continue to benefit from federal tax dollars is comply with ICE detainer requests. That’s all. Allow Chicago Police to hold onto illegal immigrants who have been arrested for crimes. Simple. Reasonable.

He won’t do it.

And now that the Trump administration is bringing the hammer down on sanctuary cities, Mayor Emanuel has decided that he’s going to go mano-y-mano with the federal government. The city has filed suit against the Trump administration in an attempt to hold onto both federal grant money and its precious sanctuary city status.

“Chicago will not be blackmailed into changing our values, and we are and will remain a welcoming city,” Emanuel said. “The federal government should be working with cities to provide necessary resources to improve public safety, not concocting new schemes to reduce our crime-fighting resources. Chicago will not let our police officers become political pawns in a debate. Chicago will not let our residents have their fundamental rights isolated and violated. And Chicago will never relinquish our status as a welcoming city.”

Cue cheers?

Emanuel’s lawsuit inspired Attorney General Jeff Sessions to issue a statement on Monday, firing back at the liberal mayor’s idiotic concept of “improving public safety.”

“This administration is committed to the rule of law and to enforcing the laws established by Congress. To a degree perhaps unsurpassed by any other jurisdiction, the political leadership of Chicago has chosen deliberately and intentionally to adopt a policy that obstructs this country’s lawful immigration system,” Sessions said. “The city’s leaders cannot follow some laws and ignore others and reasonably expect this horrific situation to improve.”

Sessions said the choice facing Emanuel and city officials in other so-called sanctuaries was plain and straightforward.

“This administration will not simply give away grant dollars to city governments that proudly violate the rule of law and protect criminal aliens at the expense of public safety,” he said. “So it’s this simple: Comply with the law or forego taxpayer dollars.”

Chicago is going to try to find a way around this stark choice. We hope, for their sake and ours, that they are not successful.