Critics of immigration protection around the country were put on notice by Donald Trump’s Justice Department, which has made it clear it did brook no interference from regional authorities in carrying out immigration enforcement activities.
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A letter from acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove advises prosecutors to research and, if justified, imprisonment local officers who obstruct immigration police activities. The letter also instructs the department’s civil department to work with a newly formed Sanctuary Cities Enforcement Working Group in order to determine laws and policies that “impede” the government’s immigration enforcement work.
The letter is a clear-language alert to politicians like Chicago’s Brandon Johnson, who has threatened to hinder immigration protection. At a press event in November, Johnson said, “We does not bend or break. Our ideals will be strong and firm. We will face possible barriers in our job over the next four times, but we will never be stopped and we will never get up. ”
Illinois Gov. J. B. Pritzker was even more clear in his notice.
“To someone who intends to travel take away the freedom and opportunity and respect of Illinoisans, I may tell you that a happy hero is still a hero, ” Pritzker said. “You come for my folks. You come through me. ”
Better get a good legal attorney, JB.
“Indeed, it is the duty of the Justice Department to defend the Constitution, and consequently, to lawfully kill the laws that the American people elected President Trump to adopt, ” wrote Bove, who defended Trump in two of the legal cases filed against him.
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Bove is not going to handle slow-walking Trump’s objectives.
“The Justice Department’s duty, boldly shouldered by each of its people, includes intense enforcement of laws enacted by Congress, as well as robust defence of the President’s activities on behalf of the United States against lawful challenges, ” Bove added. “The Department’s officers had come together in the offices that citizens have funded to do this critical function. ”
The letter said federal prosecutors had “take all measures necessary to protect the consumer and safe the American border by removing illegal aliens from the land and prosecuting illegal aliens for offences ” committed in U. S. jurisdiction. ”
The memo suggests there will be a spike in immigration cases under the new administration, instructing U. S. attorney’s offices across the country to inform courts of its policy “and develop processes for handling the increased number of prosecutions that will result. ” Any decisions by federal prosecutors to decline to prosecute immigration violations must be disclosed to Justice Department headquarters in so-called “urgent reports, ” which are used to update leadership on law enforcement emergencies or significant matters of national interest.
It also directs prosecutors to investigate for potential criminal charges cases in which state and local officials obstruct or impede federal functions. As potential avenues for prosecution, the memo cites a conspiracy offense as well as a law prohibiting the harboring of people in the country illegally.
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The grandstanding mayors and other politicians have now been put on notice. That won’t stop them from daring prosecutors to arrest them. Nothing would give someone like Johnson more pleasure than being seen as a glorious left-wing martyr. Johnson is in deep political trouble, and getting arrested would distract Chicagoans from the severe funding crisis and crime wave sweeping the city.
Just the threat of prosecution will likely keep most politicians in line. The problem will be in getting around sanctuary city laws and policies that prevent local law enforcement from assisting ICE in arresting illegal alien criminals. For example, in Illinois, local police are forbidden to offer a jail cot to ICE agents who will stay overnight to collect an illegal for deportation.
It’s one of many challenges the new administration will face in deporting masses of people.
