In the name of fighting crime, Attorney General Jeff Sessions threatened to cut off federal grants used to fight crime.

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Attorney General Jeff Sessions set off a feud between several mayors and the White House on Wednesday with his latest moves to punish sanctuary cities and coerce them into enforcing the administration's hardline immigration agenda.

Sessions has been a steady critic of sanctuary cities since taking office, as a matter of public safety. Violence is exploding on streets in the United States, he claimed in speeches to local police last year, and cities that shelter undocumented immigrants are exacerbating that threat.

So on Wednesday, the Justice Department sent letters dialing up the pressure on 23 jurisdictions that have failed to hand over records that show compliance with federal immigration laws. The letters, sent by an official under Sessions, warn that cities and counties failing to cooperate by Feb. 23 will be subpoenaed, and they threaten to withhold millions of dollars in grants from their police departments. A Justice Department official, asked if local officials could be jailed for failing to comply, said Wednesday morning, “We will evaluate next steps.” Under his current ultimatum, Sessions could cut off resources used to fight crime in the same cities he’s arguing are not doing enough as is to fight crime — and he created a swift backlash. Mayors from around the country, who convened this week in Washington, DC, sought to exact revenge by pulling out of a Wednesday afternoon meeting with President Trump at the last minute.

New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu, chair of the US Conference of Mayors, a bi-partisan group, called the Justice Department’s letters “an attack on everyone in our conference.”

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio also pulled out of the meeting, calling the Justice Department's threats a "racist assault on our immigrant communities." I will NOT be attending today’s meeting at the White House after @realDonaldTrump’s Department of Justice decided t… https://t.co/293w1Vcefa

A source familiar with the coalition told BuzzFeed News that most of the group's mayors were expected to skip the event — including Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti; Burnsville, Minnesota, Mayor Elizabeth Kautz; and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel. But once the event was underway, Trump disputed that most of mayors had boycotted, saying "the vast majority of people showed up," according to a White House pool report. "The mayors who choose to boycott this event have put the needs of criminal, illegal immigrants over law-abiding America," Trump added, saying the Justice Department letter was a "critical legal step." Still, others stayed away. When Trump asked a few mayors to stand — including New Haven, Connecticut, Mayor Toni Harp — Harp didn't stand because, apparently, Harp wasn't there, the pool report said. Trump said Harp might be a “sanctuary city person” and “that’s not possible, is it?” Lindsay Walters, a White House spokesperson, called the mayors' move a “political stunt.”

“We are disappointed that a number of mayors have chosen to make a political stunt instead of participating in an important discussion with the President and his administration,” she said in a statement to BuzzFeed News.

"The mayors who choose to boycott this event have put the needs of criminal, illegal immigrants over law-abiding America," Trump said.