Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul and 10 other attorneys general pushed back Thursday on a memo from the Department of Justice calling for the investigation of state and local officials who “threaten to impede” enforcement of the Trump administration’s immigration initiatives.
In a memo first obtained by The Associated Press, acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove directed federal prosecutors to investigate any state or local officials who stand in the way of enforcement of immigration laws under President Donald Trump’s administration.
“While the federal government may use its own resources for federal immigration enforcement, the court ruled in Printz v. United States that the federal government cannot ‘impress into its service — and at no cost to itself — the police officers of the 50 States,’” the attorneys general said in a statement Thursday. “This balance of power between the federal government and state governments is a touchstone of our American system of federalism.”
Bove, appointed by Trump, also instructed the Justice Department’s civil division to help identify state and local laws and policies that “threaten to impede” the Trump administration’s immigration initiatives and potentially challenge them in court.
Prosecutors shall “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 in U.S. jurisdiction, the memo said. It directs prosecutors to investigate for potential criminal charges cases in which state and local officials obstruct or impede federal functions.
“Federal law prohibits state and local actors from resisting, obstructing and otherwise failing to comply with lawful immigration-related commands and requests,” the memo said. “The U.S. Attorney’s Offices and litigating components of the Department of Justice shall investigate incidents involving any such misconduct for potential prosecution.”
However, Raoul and other attorneys general — from California, New York, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Mexico and Vermont — argued that Trump could not “unilaterally re-write the Constitution.”
“The president has made troubling threats to weaponize the U.S. Department of Justice’s prosecutorial authority and resources to attack public servants acting in compliance with their state laws, interfering with their ability to build trust with the communities they serve and protect,” they said.
The memo “is legally baseless and harmful to our communities,” the American Civil Liberties Union wrote in a memo and public letter to acting Attorney General James McHenry released Thursday.
“The Constitution and our laws are clear: The federal government cannot bully state officials into carrying out deportations, nor can they punish them for declining,” said Deirdre Schifeling, ACLU chief political and advocacy officer. “State and local governments cannot be compelled to carry out the Trump administration’s political agenda of sowing fear and division in our communities.”
The attorneys general called Bove’s memo “empty words on paper,” but they would not hesitate to to respond if the orders became “illegal actions.”
“As state attorneys general, we have a responsibility to enforce state laws, and we will continue to investigate and prosecute crimes, regardless of immigration status. We will not be distracted by the president’s mass deportation agenda.”