More than $98 million in community policing grants awarded

FILE: Attorney General Jeff Sessions (Photo: Freedom From Religion Foundation/Facebook)

CHICAGO — Several cities, including Chicago, have been awarded more than $3.1 million each in federal grants to hire extra police officers.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions Monday announced COPS Hiring Program grants, saying 80 per cent of the 179 agencies sharing $98 million in grants agreed to co-operate with federal immigration authorities in their detention facilities.

It’s not clear which cities agreed to co-operate.

Metropolitan Dade County Florida, Houston and San Antonio police departments and the Orange County sheriff’s office in California also received grants.

The grants are separate from one that pays for public safety equipment. The Trump administration threatened to withhold those grants from cities that limit co-operation with federal immigration enforcement.

Chicago is suing the federal government for withholding that funding, and dozens of jurisdictions have supported it.