The Trump administration has directed federal prosecutors to investigate and potentially prosecute state and local officials who obstruct or fail to cooperate with its intensified immigration crackdown efforts.
This directive, outlined by Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove, marks a significant escalation in the administration's approach to sanctuary jurisdictions and immigration policy.
"Federal law prohibits state and local actors from resisting, obstructing, and otherwise failing to comply with lawful immigration-related commands," reads the leaked memo by Bove, reported by both The Associated Press and the Washington Post on Wednesday
Bove, a former federal prosecutor who was one of President Donald Trump's defense lawyers in his criminal cases, went on to order U.S. attorneys' offices across the country to "investigate incidents involving any such misconduct for potential prosecution," including for harboring an immigrant in the United States illegally, failing to share information about a person's immigration status with the federal government, and conspiracy — crimes that carry potential prison terms upon conviction, according to The Washington Post.
The memo also reaffirms the administration's stance on pursuing the most serious prosecutable offenses, a long-standing Republican principle designed to minimize prosecutorial discretion. It emphasizes removing undocumented immigrants from the country and prosecuting crimes committed by non-citizens.
In one of the more notable excerpts from the memo, Bove refers to a newly established "Sanctuary Cities Enforcement Working Group" within the DOJ, charged with identifying state and local laws or policies inconsistent with the Trump administration's immigration enforcement goals. The memo instructs the department's civil division to "take legal action to challenge such laws" where appropriate.
More news coming from the DOJ on Tuesday also reflected the administration's broader efforts to align the department with its agenda as at least 20 career officials were reassigned from senior positions in areas such as the criminal and national security divisions, as CNN reports. The move means many senior officers have been sidelined to make way for those eager to implement Trump's intended crackdown.
New leadership appointments at U.S. attorney offices further underscore the administration's hardline approach, including conservative activist Ed Martin as acting U.S. Attorney in Washington, D.C., and Danielle Sassoon, a prosecutor with a background in high-profile cases, leading the Southern District of New York.
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