Story highlights The memo sets out the definition of "sanctuary jurisdiction" for the administration

The policy is substantially more narrow than the rhetoric of the administration

Washington (CNN) The Trump administration will not go after all federal funds from so-called sanctuary cities, the Justice Department announced Monday -- an acknowledgment that making good on such a threat would likely have been impossible.

The guidance from Attorney General Jeff Sessions makes clear that the actual policies the administration will pursue are narrower than described by the rhetoric from President Donald Trump.

The memo clarified a portion of Trump's January executive order on immigration, which administration officials originally touted as a shot across the bow to all cities who do not comply with federal immigration enforcement.

The executive order, though, was loose on details and said the attorney general and homeland security secretary would later articulate a definition of "sanctuary jurisdiction" in terms of the order -- which Monday's missive delivers on.

Legal scholars as well as state and local officials had long maintained that court decisions, including one on Obamacare, prevent the government from pulling federal funds to coerce jurisdictions into action. A federal judge in California agreed in theory last month, blocking the administration from enforcing the order by taking away federal funds beyond those Justice Department grants that already have preconditions built into them.

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