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City expected to settle police hiring lawsuit

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Flickr/Creative Commons

CHICAGO (AP) - Chicago's City Council is expected to approve a $3.1 million settlement of a lawsuit brought by the U.S. Justice Department that alleged the police department's residency requirements discriminated against foreign-born applicants. 
On Wednesday, the Council will likely follow the recommendation made Monday by the council's finance committee to settle the class-action lawsuit. 

The Justice Department alleged the policy requiring applicants to live in the United States for at least 10 years discriminated against 47 foreign-born applicants hoping to become police officers. In 2011 the city lowered the requirement to five years. 
 

The city's law department says the settlement has nothing to do with a Justice Department investigation of the police force launched after the release of the video of an officer fatally shooting black teenager Laquan McDonald.  
 

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