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Trump administration backs down on Seattle 'sanctuary city' threat

The Trump administration today backed down from its threat withhold to federal grants for Seattle police because Seattle is a "sanctuary city."

“Finally, the administration has given in. The Trump administration, the Department of Justice has blinked, and they have given us over a quarter of a million dollars that were due to us in federal public safety dollars from the Department of Justice,” said Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan.

The money will be used to pay for three crime prevention coordinators to help Seattle neighborhoods work with police.

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"Our crime prevention coordinators are going to be a really vital and critical piece of making sure that we have good intervention and prevention, that we are providing information to community members, that we are doing the work that we need to be doing to have effective community policing,” said Seattle police Chief Carmen Best.

Seattle was winning federal court cases over the threat to withhold the money from police

The Trump administration will release nearly $658,000 dollars in all -- to be divided by Seattle, King County and other jurisdictions in the area.

“We showed them that both the law and justice were on our side and the courts have agreed,” said Durkan.