Attorney General Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III has threatened Sanctuary Cities with lawsuits over their failure to follow federal law over communications to the Federal government concerning aliens held by those cities' law enforcement officials. The ultimate result will be loss to the cities of certain law enforcement grants.

This is small potatoes compared to the criminal activity by those sanctuary cities which take numerous actions to protect illegal aliens from discovery and arrest, as well as giving said aliens benefits to remain in the United States. Also apparently not on Attorney General Sessions to-do list is a lawsuit against California's Sanctuary State law that prohibits business owners and law enforcement from cooperating with immigration law enforcement.

But first to the threats by AG Sessions:

The Justice Department is threatening 23 so-called sanctuary cities, including New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, with subpoenas if they fail to provide documents to show whether local law enforcement officers are sharing information with federal immigration authorities.

The demand, outlined Wednesday by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, represents a new escalation by the Trump administration to punish local jurisdictions that do not fully comply with federal immigration enforcement efforts, including by sharing the immigration status of local prisoners.

The subpoena threat comes as Congress prepares to restart talks on revamping the immigration system, days after lawmakers' failure to reach an agreement on the politically-charged issue led to a three-day government shutdown.

The action prompted quick and harsh protests from local officials, including the president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors who said he would not attend a previously scheduled Wednesday meeting at the White House.

[DOJ Threatens 'Sanctuary Cities' With Subpoenas, Escalating Trump's Immigration Enforcement Campaign, by Kevin Johnson and Gregory Korte, USA Today, January 24, 2018]

At the same time, the Governor of Washington has ordered the State's Department of Licensing to refuse to provide information from the State's driver's license database to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The State of Washington provides driver's licenses to illegal aliens in violation of Title 8 United States Code, Section 1324, Bringing In and Harboring Certain Aliens.

The statute prohibits any person, including a State, from aiding or encouraging any alien to remain in the United States. Providing a driver's license aids and encourages illegal aliens to remain, such as Aburto Gutierrez, an illegal alien living in Washington with a driver's license.

Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee recently learned the state’s Department of Licensing was sharing information with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). It prompted Inslee to put up his own wall to block any future cooperation and protect those in the country illegally.

"We believe people who we have helped educate, who have been here for decades, deserve to have the protection we've already given them,"said Inslee. "It's most unfortunate that the president and his ICE is essentially threatening them with deportation."

In Washington state, getting a driver’s license does not require U.S. citizenship. But the state did record where applicants were born. The Department of Licensing was treating ICE exactly like every other law enforcement agency, providing collected information only when given a name and specific crime being investigated. Now, ICE alone has a much higher bar.

"We have stopped releasing information relative to immigration violations, and from here forward we're going to require a court order to do such," said Krista Carlson, a Washington state Department of Licensing spokeswoman.

Inslee has also hired Michelle Gonzalez as a special assistant. Her job is to make sure no state agency gives ICE any information that is not specifically required by law. She’ll also comb through state records to determine if agencies are currently collecting immigration information they should not.

Washington State Gov Warns Driver Licensing Bureau Not To Help ICE, by Dan Springer, Fox News, January 23, 2018

This action by Governor Inslee is a violation of Title 8 USC 1644, Communication between State and local government agencies and Immigration and Naturalization Service, the statute that Attorney General Sessions is using to threaten Sanctuary Cities. However, as of yet, Sessions has taken no action against the State of Washington, nor sought an indictment of Inslee.

Nor has AG Sessions ordered other action the Department of Justice can take against recalcitrant States and political subdivisions of States. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) have significant leverage over State and local law enforcement agencies. All law enforcement agencies rely upon the FBI to maintain criminal and fingerprint records for law enforcement, government hiring, and occupational licensing in the Criminal Justice Information System (CJIS). Besides electronically available criminal history records in the National Criminal Information Center (NCIC), that is used thousands of times an hour by law enforcement across the nation, this is the system that you see patrol officers use in traffic and other stops, usually now accessed by a computer in the patrol vehicle. The FBI holds fingerprint and DNA records in electronically retrievable systems that State and local law enforcement agencies used daily as well, not only for identifying criminals, but also for hiring law enforcement officers.

Since the State of Washington will no longer provide driver's license records to ICE, the FBI should immediately end access by the Washington State Patrol (WSP) and other Washington State law enforcement agencies, prohibiting both submitting records and requesting records until the State of Washington treats ICE like any other law enforcement agency, e.g. provide records upon request without need for judicial warrant. Such action by AG Sessions will show he is serious about ending Sanctuary policies by a de facto ending of effective law enforcement access to records by Washington State law enforcement agencies.

Similarly, the order should extend to any other Sanctuary jurisdiction, including all law enforcement agencies in the State of California. The Director of the FBI should also expel all WSP troopers from the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Forces and the DOJ's Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces. Both organizations are FBI or DEA led multi-jurisdictional groups of Federal, State, and local law enforcement agencies that lead the fight against terrorism, organized crime, and drugs. Both are sources of successful law enforcement action that protect the people of particular localities from terrorism and crime.

However, it is time to make the preening and posturing of State and local governments against immigration law enforcement have a cost to those governments. At the moment, Sanctuary City policies have no consequences, but this move will create a cost to such poseurism and drive a wedge between politicians who support illegal immigration and their constituents. AG Sessions needs to get in the public relations fight.

But AG Sessions should also bring real legal action against the State of Washington and other Sanctuary States and Sanctuary Cities who provide driver's licenses and identification cards to illegal aliens by issuing Grand Jury subpoenas for those records. AG Sessions should also obtain Grand Jury indictments of State officials who provide those records and make arrests. Nothing will get Governor Inslee's attention like the the arrest of Pat Kohler, Director of the Department of Licensing.

Pat Kohler, Criminal Enabler Of Illegal Aliens

Also eligible for arrest would be the aforementioned Special Assistant to Governor Inslee, who will be in charge of violating Title 8 USC 1644. Time for her to be jailed as well.

Criminal Michelle Gonzalez

AG Sessions is doing much talking about Sanctuary Cities, time for him to take some action. Arrests and Grand Jury subpoenas should be a step in the right direction.

Walk the walk, Jeff!