Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said Sunday the city will file a federal lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s use of federal grant money as a way to force local authorities to cooperate with a crackdown on illegal immigration. 
 
 The showdown over so-called sanctuary cities has been months in the making, as some local governments resist federal calls to hold people in jail when asked to do so by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency. 
 
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 Story highlights The Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant program helps police fight crime 
 
 Chicago calls conditions "unconstitutional" 
 
 (CNN) The city of Chicago says it plans to file a lawsuit against the US Justice Department on Monday over new stipulations placed on federal law enforcement grant money requiring local police departments to assist in federal immigration actions. 
 
 Mayor Rahm Emanuel's office said in a statement that the Trump administration's "latest unlawful misguided action undermines public safety and violates" the Constitution. He said the city is challenging the administration "to ensure that their misguided policies do not threaten the safety of our residents." 
 
 The legal action comes amid Trump administration threats to cut off certain federal funding for so-called sanctuary cities, including Chicago. The city, which emphasizes that Chicago and its Welcoming City ordinance are in compliance with the law, wants the court to render the federal stipulations unlawful. 
 
 "Chicago will not be blackmailed into changing our values, and we are and will remain a welcoming city," said Emanuel. "The federal government should be working with cities to provide necessary resources to improve public safety, not concocting new schemes to reduce our crime fighting resources." 
 
 The suit revolves around new conditions set for an important funding program: the FY2017 Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant, or JAG, which provided federal funding to support local law enforcement efforts, according to the statement.
– Chicago is fighting back against the Trump's administration's crackdown on "sanctuary cities." Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced Sunday that Chicago is suing the Justice Department over efforts to place new conditions on federal law enforcement grant money as a means to force local authorities to cooperate with federal immigration authorities, the Wall Street Journal reports. "Chicago will not be blackmailed into changing our values, and we are and will remain a welcoming city," the Democratic mayor said in a statement, warning that Trump's "latest unlawful misguided action undermines public safety and violates" the Constitution. "The federal government should be working with cities to provide necessary resources to improve public safety, not concocting new schemes to reduce our crime fighting resources," the mayor said. The lawsuit focuses on new conditions set for the federal Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant, which has paid millions for equipment like Chicago police vehicles and SWAT gear over the years, reports CNN, which outlines the new conditions. The city wants a court to declare those conditions unlawful. The Justice Department fired back at Emanuel, with spokesman Devin O'Malley saying it is "tragic" that instead of focusing on Chicago's "staggering" murder rate, the mayor "is spending time and taxpayer money protecting criminal aliens and putting Chicago's law enforcement at greater risk."