In an epic press release promulgated on Tuesday, February 24, the Trump Administration Department of Justice announced that it had filed a major lawsuit against the blue state of New Jersey and the state’s notoriously woke governor, who won in an off-cycle election in November of 205. The lawsuit stems from the state’s sanctuary city policies, which the Trump Administration is cracking down on.
For reference, the Trump Administration has made it clear from Day 1 that it aims to fully get a grip on the major problem of illegal immigration, which will necessarily mean also cracking down successfully on the huge problem of sanctuary jurisdictions. It has tried a mix of negotiations, badgering, funding cuts, federal agent deployments, and lawfare to try to cajole sanctuary jurisdictions into working with the federal government.
Now, the administration is turning from Minnesota, where it won a major victory over the sanctuary and pro-illegal immigrant officials, from Gov. Walz to Mayor Frey of Minneapolis, forcing the state and city to deploy cops to help ICE, to other blue states that are either sanctuary states or have sanctuary jurisdictions in them.
That includes the state of New Jersey, where the new governor has attempted to interfere with the president’s anti-illegal immigration efforts. The DOJ has repsonded with a crushing lawsuit, as it announced in the press release, saying, “Yesterday, the Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against the State of New Jersey and New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherill over New Jersey’s new Executive Order No. 12 that interferes with the federal government’s enforcement of its immigration laws.”
Explaining the lawsuit and why it is necessary, the statement first described what the woke governor’s executive order does, saying, “The Executive Order prohibits ICE and other federal immigration officials from conducting secure arrests of criminal illegal aliens inside nonpublic areas of state property including state correctional facilities.”
Continuing, it noted that the EO are both illegal and would put Americans at risk by putting dangerous criminals out on the streets. “Not only are New Jersey’s sanctuary policies illegal under federal law, but, as alleged in the complaint, New Jersey’s refusal to cooperate with federal immigration authorities results in the release of dangerous criminals from police custody who would otherwise be subject to removal, including illegal aliens convicted of aggravated assault, burglary, and drug and human trafficking, onto the streets,” it said.
The lawsuit is, thus, an attempt to force the blue state into compliance with federal law so that Americans aren’t put at risk. Attorney General Pam Bondi, commenting on the lawsuit and why it is necessary, argued, “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.”
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Continuing, the attorney general explained that no sanctuary jurisdiction will be allowed to get away with it, including New Jersey, as she is cracking down with a vengeance. She said, “States may not deliberately interfere with our efforts to remove illegal aliens and arrest criminals — New Jersey’s sanctuary policies will not stand.”
So, the DOJ is demanding that the court find the New Jersey Executive Order unconstitutional under the supremacy clause, as it provided in the suit itself, saying, “Accordingly, the Executive Order is invalid under the Supremacy Clause and must be enjoined. The United States brings this declaratory and injunctive action to prohibit the State of New Jersey from enforcing the Executive Order that aims to thwart enforcement of federal law it disagrees with. ”
Putting this latest lawsuit in the context of the DOJ’s general anti-immigration efforts, the statement said, “Today’s lawsuit is the latest in a series of lawsuits brought by the Civil Division targeting illegal sanctuary city policies across the country, including in New York, Minnesota, and Los Angeles, California.”