WASHINGTON — The Department of Justice said Thursday that some so-called sanctuary cities have “boldly asserted” they will not comply with requests from federal immigration agents, setting the stage for a new dispute between localities and the Trump administration.

The clash centers on whether local jurisdictions are required to provide information to federal deportation agents about a person’s immigration status, particularly those who have been arrested for local crimes.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions had given 10 state and local governments until June 30 to prove that they share information with federal immigration officials – or risk losing some grant money.

Federal law bars localities from creating policies that restrict the sharing of immigration-related information. But some local officials say the law does not require them to collect details such as a person’s immigration status.

Sessions said the governments of all 10 targeted jurisdictions, including California, Connecticut and New York City, maintained that they comply with the law requiring such information-sharing.

But he signaled that the Justice Department may disagree.

“Some of these jurisdictions have boldly asserted they will not comply with requests from federal immigration authorities, and this would potentially violate” federal law, the statement said.

Sessions said the department is reviewing the letters. “It is not enough to assert compliance, the jurisdictions must actually be in compliance,” he said in the statement, which cited U.S. Code 8, section 1373. That law says government officials “may not prohibit, or in any way restrict” employees from sharing the information with federal agents about a person’s immigration status.

The Justice Department did not make the letters public, or identify the allegedly recalcitrant jurisdictions.

But Philadelphia shared its letter. It said that the city does not violate Section 1373, even though its policy bars officials from collecting immigration data from people they encounter or arrest, unless relevant to a criminal probe.