Traffic moves past the Kimo Theater along historic Route 66 in downtown Albuquerque on Aug. 1, 2016. Attorney General Jeff Sessions is cracking down on so-called sanctuary cities, including Albuquerque, threatening to keep federal crime-fighting resources from cities ravaged by violence if they don’t cooperate with federal immigration authorities.
Traffic moves past the Kimo Theater along historic Route 66 in downtown Albuquerque on Aug. 1, 2016. Attorney General Jeff Sessions is cracking down on so-called sanctuary cities, including Albuquerque, threatening to keep federal crime-fighting resources from cities ravaged by violence if they don’t cooperate with federal immigration authorities.Russell Contreras/Associated Press file

ACLU-NM Executive Director Peter Simonson said Thursday that those demands were “a bullying tactic” from Attorney General Jeff Sessions who is “determined to make misery in the lives of immigrant families.”

Sessions threatened to keep federal crime-fighting resources from cities beset by violence. The Justice Department sent letters to four cities, including Albuquerque, telling them they will be ineligible for an anti-violence program if they don’t help detain and deport people in the country illegally.

Simonson says the attorney general’s actions are “petty, coercive and dangerous” for Albuquerque as the city sees a rise in crime.