The Justice Department is escalating its enforcement of immigration laws under the Trump administration, directing federal prosecutors to investigate and potentially prosecute state and local officials who stand in the way.
A memo, written by acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove and obtained by The Associated Press on Wednesday, outlines the department’s plan to tackle resistance to Trump’s immigration initiatives.
According to the memo, federal prosecutors are instructed to “take all steps necessary to protect the public and secure the American border by removing illegal aliens from the country and prosecuting illegal aliens for crimes” committed within the United States. The directive focuses not only on undocumented immigrants but also on state and local officials whose actions “threaten to impede” federal immigration enforcement.
The Justice Department’s civil division has also been tasked with identifying state and local laws or policies that obstruct Trump’s immigration initiatives and to consider challenging them in court. This includes sanctuary city policies, which limit local cooperation with federal immigration authorities.
The memo emphasizes that “federal law prohibits state and local actors from resisting, obstructing, and otherwise failing to comply with lawful immigration-related commands and requests.” It directs U.S. attorneys and DOJ litigators to investigate incidents of potential misconduct by state and local officials for possible criminal charges.
The Trump administration has long criticized sanctuary cities and states for refusing to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and has sought to penalize jurisdictions that limit ICE’s ability to detain or deport undocumented immigrants.
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