By Eric Tucker and Alanna Durkin Richer
The Justice Department is directing its federal prosecutors to investigate for potential criminal charges any state or local officials who stand in the way of beefed-up enforcement of immigration laws under the Trump administration, according to a memo to the workforce obtained by The Associated Press on Wednesday.
The memo, written by acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove, also instructs the Justice Department’s civil division to work with a newly formed Sanctuary Cities Enforcement Working Group to identify state and local laws and policies that “threaten to impede” the Trump administration’s immigration efforts and potentially challenge them in court.
The three-page memo signals an immediate and sharp turnabout in priorities from President Joe Biden’s Democratic administration, with prosecutors told in no uncertain terms that they will be on the front lines of an administration-wide effort to crack down on illegal immigration and border crime and that they are expected to carry out
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