July 20, 2017
Attorney General Jeff Sessions will visit Philadelphia on Friday to meet with federal, state and local law enforcement members.
Sessions will deliver a speech on sanctuary cities and efforts to combat violent crime at 11 a.m. inside the U.S. Attorney's Office on Chestnut Street.
The event originally was slated for earlier this month, but it was postponed due to the death of a staffer within the U.S. Attorney's Office.
An activist group, Refuse Fascism, intends to protest Session's appearance, alleging he is perpetuating a myth that immigrants are the source of violent crime.
Sessions, a Republican, has threatened to slash federal funding to so-called sanctuary cities, like Philadelphia, that do not fully comply with federal immigration laws.
In May, Sessions issued a memo stating the Trump administration would withhold some federal grant funding to any jurisdictions that "willfully refuse to comply" with a federal statute requiring them to exchange information about a person's immigration status with federal immigration authorities.
Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney, an ardent supporter of sanctuary cities, has vowed to maintain Philly's status as a sanctuary city despite any federal policy changes.
