The Trump administration is directing federal prosecutors to investigate and potentially bring charges against state and local officials who do not cooperate with its plans to carry out the nation’s largest campaign of mass deportations, according to an internal memo.
“The Supremacy Clause [of the U.S. Constitution] and other authorities require state and local actors to comply with the Executive Branch’s immigration enforcement initiatives” and requests, according to the Justice Department memo.
Though it doesn’t mention such jurisdictions by name, the document is the latest statement by the Trump administration to suggest it will seek to force “sanctuary cities” that limit cooperation with federal immigration enforcement to get behind the White House’s hard-line agenda.
About a dozen states and hundreds of cities have some form of sanctuary policies, which often bar local police from using resources to arrest or detain migrants solely on the basis of federal immigration offenses.
Supporters of such sanctuary policies argue local officials cooperating with immigration enforcement makes immigrants of all statuses wary to engage with the government, getting in the way of public priorities like healthcare, education, and safety.
Some law enforcement officials also take issue with how federal officials seek cooperation, in which police are often asked to hold migrants, often without a full federal warrant, already booked for other crimes until federal agents can arrive. Critics of this approach say such local detention for federal immigration offenses, which are civil, is unlawful.
Officials in California, which has some of the strongest sanctuary protections, criticized the Trump memo.
“This is a scare tactic, plain and simple. The President is attempting to intimidate and bully state and local law enforcement into carrying out his mass deportation agenda for him,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta wrote in a statement. “We’ll be prepared to take legal action if the Trump Administration’s vague threats turn to illegal action.”
The San Francisco Sheriff’s Office affirmed on Tuesday it is a sanctuary jurisdiction.
“Sheriff Miyamoto and the San Francisco Sheriff’s Office protect undocumented immigrants,” a statement on X read. “The Sheriff’s Office does not arrest people for civil immigration violations. We do not hold anyone over in jail if the court has ordered them released.”
Some legal observers also sounded the alarm.
“This may just be the beginning of Trump’s revenge tour and the DOJ prosecuting his political opponents or those who are standing in the way of his ambitious agenda,” former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani, president of West Coast Trial Lawyers, said in a statement to The Independent.
“The legal question for judges will be, is inaction enough to be a violation of the law?” he added. “Or will prosecutors need evidence that logical officials took proactive steps to hide aliens from federal authorities?”
The Trump administration has previously threatened to prosecute local leaders who get in the way of its deportation plans.
“If your Chicago mayor doesn’t want to help, he can step aside,” Trump immigration czar Tom Homan reportedly said late last year. “But if he impedes us — if he knowingly harbors or conceals an illegal alien — I will prosecute him.”
On Monday, Trump signed an executive order commanding Justice Department and Homeland Security officials to “evaluate and undertake any lawful actions” to deprive sanctuary jurisdictions of access to federal funds, arguing they “interfere with the lawful exercise of Federal law enforcement operations.”
Many of Trump’s immigration plans, including his attempt to unilaterally cancel the constitutional right of birthright citizenship, are already facing stiff opposition in court.
