Yesterday, the Trump Administration, primarily the Department of Justice lead by Attorney General William Barr, further targeted rouge sanctuary jurisdictions in California, Washington, and New Jersey.
This comes on the heels of last week, as the Department of Homeland Security announced that it would no longer enroll New York residents in trusted traveler programs like Global Entry and Nexus because of a new state law limiting DHS officials' access to drivers license and vehicle registration information. The law was enacted as part of legislation aimed at granting drivers licenses to undocumented immigrants.
Barr announced that the Department of Justice (DOJ) would be slapping several states and localities with lawsuits over their sanctuary policies while delivering remarks at the National Sheriffs’ Association in Washington, D.C., on Monday. DOJ, later on, filed suit against the state of California, Calif. Gov. Gavin Newsom, and Calif. AG Xavier Becerra; the state of New Jersey, NJ Governor Philip Murphy, and NJ Attorney General Gurbir Grewal; King County, Wash. and King County Executive Dow Constantine, over various policies that hinder the work of federal immigration authorities.
The Justice Department suits target a California law banning privately run detention centers; a New Jersey law that prohibits state officials from sharing information with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) related to the immigration status and release dates of individuals in their custody.; and a King County (Seattle) law that effectively prohibits U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) contractors from using King County International Airport to carry out deportations.
AG Barr stated during his remarks:
In various jurisdictions, so-called progressive politicians are jeopardizing the public’s safety by putting the interests of criminal aliens before those of law-abiding citizens. They have put in place policies and laws designed to thwart the ability of federal officers to take custody of these criminals and thereby help them escape back into the community. They often proudly brand their jurisdictions as 'sanctuaries,' and package their obstructive policies in idealistic and misleading rhetoric about 'protecting the immigrant community.
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