The Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against New Jersey and Democratic Gov. Mikie Sherill over an executive order that limits ICE cooperation and expands sanctuary status.
The DOJ claims Executive Order 12 violates the Supremacy Clause, discriminates against federal immigration officials, and obstructs justice.
“Federal agents are risking their lives to keep New Jersey citizens safe, and yet New Jersey’s leaders are enacting policies designed to obstruct and endanger law enforcement,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “States may not deliberately interfere with our efforts to remove illegal aliens and arrest criminals — New Jersey’s sanctuary policies will not stand.”
Sherill signed Executive Order 12, which prohibits ICE and federal immigration officials from arresting criminal aliens on and inside state property, including state prisons.
New Jersey defines “’State property’ as ‘facilities, premises, and parcels, or portions thereof, that are owned, operated, leased, or controlled by New Jersey Executive Branch departments and agencies, including but not limited to office buildings, parking lots, and parking garages.’”
“The State of New Jersey has adopted this policy with the clear objective of obstructing President Trump from enforcing federal immigration law,” according to the lawsuit. “The policy is designed to and in fact does interfere with and discriminate against the Executive’s enforcement of federal immigration law in violation of the Supremacy Clause.”
The Executive Order allows arrests only in public areas if “authorized by a judicial warrant or judicial order.”
The DOJ says the Executive Order obstructs the federal government from performing lawful operations:
The New Jersey Executive Order obstructs such operations in at least three ways. First, the New Jersey Executive Order prohibits federal immigration agents from accessing non-public areas at all. Second, the New Jersey Executive Order prohibits any court security staff that are members of “Executive Branch departments and agencies,” from cooperating with federal immigration agents for the purpose of civil immigration enforcement. Third, even as to entering and exiting the building, federal immigration agents are restricted from accessing non-public entrances and exits. There is no indication on the face of the New Jersey Executive Order that officials working for the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Drug Enforcement Administration, Bureau of Alcohol, Tabacco, and Firearms, or the Federal Bureau of Investigations are subjected to similar regulation and discrimination.
The lawsuit also points out that the Executive Order protects dangerous criminal illegal aliens.
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