Sixteen attorneys general are arguing that the Justice Department does not have the authority to threaten funding for "sanctuary cities" by putting immigration-related conditions on federal law enforcement grants.

The argument was made in an amicus brief aimed at protecting sanctuary cities and their police departments from the cuts.

“The Trump administration does not have the authority to unilaterally transform state and local police into federal immigration agents — and they cannot punish a locality simply because it won’t comply,” New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman (D) said in a statement.

ADVERTISEMENT

"Attorneys General will continue to fight back against the Trump administration’s draconian immigration policies that threaten our communities and our safety," he continued.

Schneiderman is leading the effort, which includes California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont, Washington and the District of Columbia.

The move comes amid the immigration debate in Washington, D.C., on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.

The Trump administration has cracked down on sanctuary cities due to their refusal to comply with the federal government on the issue of illegal immigration.

The Justice Department last month demanded documents from roughly two dozen jurisdictions to show if local law enforcement is sharing information with federal immigration authorities — and threatened to issue subpoenas if they fail to cooperate.

“Protecting criminal aliens from federal immigration authorities defies common sense and undermines the rule of law. We have seen too many examples of the threat to public safety represented by jurisdictions that actively thwart the federal government’s immigration enforcement — enough is enough,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions Jefferson (Jeff) Beauregard SessionsTrump's policies on refugees are as simple as ABCs Ocasio-Cortez, Velázquez call for convention to decide Puerto Rico status White House officials voted by show of hands on 2018 family separations: report MORE said.

Sessions sent letters to officials in Albuquerque, N.M.; San Bernardino, Calif.; Stockton, Calif.; and Baltimore last year, warning that if the cities did not cooperate with federal efforts to crack down on illegal immigration, they would withhold funding.

“By protecting criminals from immigration enforcement, cities and states with so-called 'sanctuary' policies make all of us less safe,” he said in a statement.