The Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program, or JAG originates out of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2005. The program is named for New York City police officer Edward Byrne who was killed in the line of duty in 1988 while protecting an immigrant witness who agreed to testify against drug dealers. The JAG program is administered by the

Office of Justice Programs The Office of Justice Programs (OJP) is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that focuses on crime prevention through research and development, assistance to state, local, and tribal criminal justice agencies, including law enforce ...

Bureau of Justice Assistance The Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) is a component of the Office of Justice Programs, within the United States Department of Justice. BJA provides leadership and assistance to local criminal justice programs that improve and reinforce the nat ...

, and provides federal criminal justice funding to state, local and tribal jurisdictions. The funding is intended for a variety of areas, such as personnel, training, equipment and supplies. In Fiscal Year 2019, $263.8 million in funding was available by the JAG Program. The

Recovery Act The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) (), nicknamed the Recovery Act, was a stimulus package enacted by the 111th U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama in February 2009. Developed in response to the Gr ...

of 2009 appropriated $2 billion in funding to the JAG program. The

United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United State ...

announced in late July 2017 that more than two hundred

sanctuary cities Sanctuary city (; ) refers to municipal jurisdictions, typically in North America, that limit their cooperation with the national government's effort to enforce immigration law. Leaders of sanctuary cities say they want to reduce fear of deport ...

will be disqualified from receiving Byrne grants if their noncompliance with

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is a federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. ICE's stated mission is to protect the United States from the cross-border crime and illegal immigration tha ...

continues. Several cities challenged the change in courts, and as of November 2018, cases in District Courts of New York, Pennsylvania, California and Illinois have all found for the cities, with the Seventh Circuit Appeals Court affirming the Illinois district ruling. In February 2020, the

United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (in case citations, 2d Cir.) is one of the thirteen United States Courts of Appeals. Its territory comprises the states of Connecticut, New York and Vermont. The court has appellate juri ...

overturned the New York ruling, making it possible the case will go to the Supreme Court.

References

External links

Bureau of Justice Assistance
official website
State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance
account on

USAspending.gov ttp://www.usaspending.gov USASpending.govis a database of spending by the United States federal government. History Around the time of the Act's passage, OMB Watch, a government watchdog group, was developing a site that would do essentially eve ...

Federal assistance in the United States Grants (money) Law enforcement in the United States {{US-gov-stub