In keeping with Donald Trump’s Day 1 executive orders on immigration, the acting U.S. deputy attorney general has warned state and local officials: Do not stand in the way of federal authorities who attempt to arrest and deport illegal-alien criminals and then target the millions of “migrants” living here illegally.
The Department of Justice’s (DOJ) principal mission vis-à-vis immigration, Emil Bove wrote in a memorandum to department employees, is first ridding the nation of illegal-alien rapists, murderers, and other criminals. Then DOJ will assist with deporting the rest of the illegal-alien horde.
That is in keeping with the department’s duty of “aggressive enforcement of laws enacted by Congress,” he wrote.
And it will include investigating and prosecuting far-left sanctuary officials who block Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from doing their duty, or who refuse to cooperate with federal immigration directives.
Myriad such officials have vowed rebellion and insurrection to fight Trump.
The Memo
Before detailing the changes to DOJ’s policy and the requirements of U.S. attorneys, Bove explained the genesis of his memorandum.
The memo’s directives were prompted by “three of the most serious threats facing the American people,” Bove wrote:
First, Cartels and other Transnational Criminal Organizations, such as Tren de Aragua (TA) and La Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), are a scourge on society resulting in an unstable and unsafe border and huge flows of illegal immigration in violation of U.S. law. Second, brutal and intolerable violent crime by members of these organizations and illegal aliens is escalating rapidly across the country. Third, the fentanyl crisis and opioid epidemic are poisoning our communities and have inflicted an unprecedented toll of addiction, suffering, and death.
Joe Biden permitted the violent Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua to invade the nation and establish beacheads in major cities. DOJ will help eradicate these alien threats, and is required to do so to uphold the Constitution and American laws.
Rescinding a DOJ directive from 2017, Bove wrote that “prosecutors should charge and pursue the most serious, readily provable offenses.”
Apropos of President Trump’s executive order, Protecting the American People Against Invasion,”
The Department of Justice will 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 U.S. jurisdiction.
Those measures will include prosecuting “criminal immigration-related violations,” including those presented by state and local officials. Bove cited 8 U.S. Code § 1324, which forbids the harboring of illegals, even by religious authorities. He also cited 8 U.S. Code § 1252, which says:
No court shall have jurisdiction to review any final order of removal against an alien who is removable by reason of having committed a criminal offense.
Importantly, Bove wrote, multiple agencies will join Trump’s mass deportation effort. Those include the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. “They shall review their files for identifying information and/or biometric data relating to non-citizens located illegally in the United States.” The agencies will give that data to the Department of Homeland Security “for the sole purpose” of deportation and enforcing immigration laws.
Local Officials Had Better Behave
Bove closed his memorandum with instructions for handling insurrectionist state and local officials.
Since Trump’s election, several officials have openly said they will refuse to help him. Those include the heads of Boston, Seattle, San Diego County, and Denver. The far-left mayor of Denver, Colorado, Mike Johnston, vowed rebellion and insurrection.
Claiming that the governor won’t permit Trump to federalize the National Guard, Johnston was clear. We’ll fight immigration agents in the streets.
“More than us having DPD [Denver police] stationed at the county line to keep them out, you would have 50,000 Denverites there,” Johnston told the Denverite website:
It’s like the Tiananmen Square moment with the rose and the gun, right? You’d have every one of those Highland moms who came out for the migrants. And you do not want to mess with them.
Border czar Tom Homan has repeatedly said those officials would face felony charges for harboring illegals.
Plus, the insurrectionists might have forgotten about the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which says that document “shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the Constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding.”
The clause means that state and local officials must “comply with the Executive Branch’s [constitutional] immigration enforcement initiatives,” Bove wrote:
Federal law prohibits state and local actors from resisting, obstructing, and otherwise failing to comply with lawful immigration-related commands and requests pursuant to, for example, the President’s extensive Article Il authority with respect to foreign affairs and national security, the Immigration and Nationality Act, and the Alien Enemies Act.
Thus, U.S. attorneys will investigate “for potential prosecution” mulish officials who defy the law. That would include harboring illegals, conspiracy against the United States, and violating the Immigration and Nationality Act, which criminalizes blocking the enforcement of federal immigration laws.
Those officials who refuse to cooperate with federal immigration agents or prevent them from deporting illegals “threaten public safety and national security,” Bove wrote.
DOJ’s Civil Division and the Sanctuary Cities Enforcement Working Group will “identify state and local laws, policies, and activities” that frustrate immigration enforcement and “take legal action to challenge such laws.”
The recipients of the memorandum include all department employees and 93 U.S. attorneys.
If those officials refuse to pursue targeted illegals or to investigate or prosecute “resistance, obstruction, or other non-compliance with lawful immigration-related commands” they must explain themselves in writing.
H/T: Lawfare