The Justice Department is instructing its prosecutors to investigate officials at the state and local levels who try to prevent the apprehension and deportation of those residing in the country illegally, according to ABC News.
The memo, written by acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove, also instructs 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 says. 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 says. “The U.S. Attorney’s Offices and litigating components of the Department of Justice shall investigate incidents involving any such misconduct for potential prosecution."
Bove further explained that the DOJ would once again charge defendants with the most serious crime it can prove in court, a practice that was scrapped under the Biden administration. This was the approach Trump took in his first term to prevent prosecutors from using their discretion to charge illegals for lower-level offenses. He wrote, “The most serious charges are those punishable by death where applicable, and offenses with the most significant mandatory minimum sentences.”
This is part of President Trump’s overall effort to fulfill his campaign promise of addressing the border crisis while removing dangerous illegal immigrants from the country. Just as in his first term, the president’s plans are meeting with opposition from Democrats.
Nevertheless, it’s clear this administration will not be deterred. During an appearance on CNN, border czar Tom Homan stunned host Dana Bash when he suggested that there would be “collateral arrests” in sanctuary cities that refuse to assist Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in apprehending illegals.
“There’s going to be more collateral arrests in sanctuary cities because they forced us to go into the community and find the guy we’re looking for,” Homan said.
“When you release a public safety threat out of a sanctuary jail and they won’t give us access to him, that means we got to go to the neighborhood and find him, and we will find him, but when we find him, he may be with others,” Homan added. “Others that don’t have a criminal conviction and are in the country illegally. They will be arrested too.”
Homan said that’s the difference between the Trump administration and the previous one: “ICE is going to enforce the immigration law.”
As he went on to note, there’s nothing in the Immigration and Nationality Act stating an illegal immigrant must be convicted of a serious crime to be deported.
Homan further stated that “when we go find our priority target, which is a criminal alien, if he’s with others in the United States illegally, we’re going to take enforcement action against him.”
Watch Dana Bash do a double-take in shock and horror as Tom Homan explains to her that an illegal alien doesn’t have to be convicted of a serious crime to face deportation.
— Bonchie (@bonchieredstate) January 21, 2025
Amazing stuff. pic.twitter.com/QdNAgOhyEe
In another interview, Homan said ICE has been instructed to “prioritize public safety threats that we’re looking for.”
He went on to state that “There’s not only public safety threats that will be arrested, because in sanctuary cities, we’re not allowed to get that public safety threat in the jail, which means we got to got to the neighborhood and find him.”