Trump's Justice Department is looking to crack down on local authorities that won't play ball on immigration
Angela Weiss/Pool/Getty Images
- A Trump Justice Department official is threatening criminal probes to local officials.
- Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove said the DOJ will monitor officials who don't cooperate on immigration.
- President Trump repeatedly promised to begin "mass deportations" after retaking the White House.
A top Justice Department official on Wednesday made clear that federal authorities are watching local officials who defy President Donald Trump's immigration policies.
Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove, who was previously part of Trump's private legal team, wrote in a memo to the entire Justice Department that "laws and actions that threaten to impede" Trump's actions harm "public safety and national security."
Bove's memo, published in full by The Washington Post, cites a new "Sanctuary Cities Enforcement Working Group," within the DOJ that will work to "identify state and local laws, policies, and activities that are inconsistent with Executive Branch immigration initiatives and, where appropriate, to take legal action to challenge such laws."
Trump and congressional Republicans have long complained about states and cities that refuse to fully cooperate with federal immigration requests under so-called "sanctuary policies." The American Civil Liberties Union and other organizations have repeatedly sued over the legality of holding someone solely based on an Immigration and Customs Enforcement request.
Some local officials, particularly Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, have defended policies that require officers to not fully cooperate with federal officials.
On Tuesday, Trump wasted little time in implementing the immigration restrictions he ran on during the 2024 campaign. He moved to end birthright citizenship, a constitutional guarantee. Trump also formally declared that illegal immigration is a federal emergency, part of any effort to involve US troops in border security. A host of Democratic state attorneys generals quickly sued to block the birthright citizenship order, and other legal fights are expected to follow.
Business Insider has spoken to over a dozen immigration researchers and policy analysts across the political spectrum. Conservative-leaning researchers have defended Trump's policies, arguing there will be benefits from deporting a large number of people in the country illegally. Economists, particularly those on the left and center, have warned that mass deportations could cause economic calamities.
It is also expected that a full-scale mass deportation effort would cost the federal government hundreds of billions of dollars.