Trump administration directs Justice Department to step up immigration enforcement

The Trump administration is directing the Justice Department to drastically boost its efforts on immigration enforcement, making it a top priority, according to a memo sent to staff by acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove on Tuesday night.

The memo issues a series of directives instructing Justice Department officials to prioritize identifying illegal immigrants and prosecuting immigration violations.

It also instructs officials to investigate for potential prosecution any state or local officials who resist the enforcement of federal immigration laws, and it directs the Civil Division to examine possible legal action against states or cities with laws barring officials from cooperating with immigration enforcement officers.

The directives are in keeping with Donald Trump’s campaign promises, and to some extent reflect the traditional change in policy direction when a different party takes control of the government. In 2020, after years of litigation, the Trump administration won the right to withhold funding from sanctuary cities, but was not in office for long after the ruling was issued. 

There is no precedent for prosecuting state or local officials who are deemed to have resisted federal immigration enforcement.

One of the most notable directives instructs the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Forces around the country to coordinate with the Department of Homeland Security “to assist in the execution of President Trump’s immigration-related initiatives.” That is a marked departure from past policy. Those task forces generally focus on terrorist threats, which officials say are at a higher level than they have been in recent years.

The memo orders the FBI, DEA, ATF, the U.S. Marshals and the Bureau of Prisons to “review their files for identifying information and/or biometric data relating to non-citizens located illegally in the United States.”

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“The Department of Justice will 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 within U.S. jurisdiction,” the memo says. 

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It orders the DOJ to pursue every possible immigration violation and coordinate with federal courts to handle “the increased number of prosecutions that will result.”

Some officials in sanctuary cities like Chicago, Denver and Minneapolis have said they intend to defend immigrants who are in their city without authorization.

In the days ahead of Trump’s inauguration, Denver Mayor Mike Johnston, a Democrat, said he would preserve the city’s sanctuary city laws.

“If Donald Trump tries to break the law and abuse his power, he will get no help from us,” Johnston spokesperson Jordan Fuja said in a statement to NBC News, adding that the mayor is “considering a number of options to strengthen protections for all our residents.”