West Palm Beach’s mayor on Tuesday accused the Trump administration of lying about an agreement sealed with her city after Justice Department officials used the agreement in their effort to turn up the heat on California jurisdictions that refuse to comply with federal sanctuary city policy.
The charge came after the South Florida city and the Department of Justice settled a dispute over West Palm Beach’s sanctuary city status.
The city was one of 23 jurisdictions identified in January by the administration as having policies that obstruct local law enforcement from cooperating with federal immigration officials. The city then filed a lawsuit claiming they were not a sanctuary city and did not violate any federal laws.
On Tuesday, the DOJ and West Palm Beach settled the case. As part of the agreement the city sent a letter reminding city employees that they could share immigration information with federal authorities.
The Justice Department then drew a connection between the agreement with West Palm Beach and its actions in California.
“Since the Trump Administration sued California for their sanctuary policies, California jurisdictions are tripping over themselves to create distance from Governor Brown’s dangerous policies, and now West Palm Beach is instructing its employees to cooperate with ICE in order to avoid a loss in the courts,” an administration official said.
That linkage angered West Palm Beach Mayor Jeri Muoio. She charged the administration was mischaracterizing the settlement with her city to score political points in its fight with California. Muoio emphasized the letter sent by the city was merely a reminder to city employees, but didn’t alter any policy changes.
“They’re lying because we didn’t agree to change anything,” Muoio said. “They’re conflating it with what’s going on in California and suggesting that we decided on our position because we didn’t want to lose a suit. Not true.”
Earlier this month, the Trump administration filed suit against California challenging a new state law that restricts how and when state law enforcement can interact with federal immigration authorities. The administration has since been taking shots at California’s new laws protecting those in the state illegally, describing them as “radical” and accusing lawmakers of endangering federal immigration agents’ lives and “bankrolling” criminal human smuggling rings.
Lawyers for the city of West Palm Beach said the only thing that changed Tuesday was that DOJ no longer legally views West Palm Beach as a sanctuary city, a conclusion that was an objective of the city’s lawsuit. Muoio said they never worried about losing in court and no policies were changed.
She said the city has not and will not enforce immigration law. The local immigrant community should not worry that the city will now be rounding up immigrants, she insisted, because it does not and will not collect immigration information.
“If we have information that the federal immigration authorities want, we will give it to them,” Muoio said. “But we don’t have it because we don’t collect that information. We’re not checking people’s immigration status every time they come to our police station or city hall.”
Email: fordonez@mcclatchydc.com; Twitter: @francoordonez.
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