The Trump administration has told federal prosecutors nationwide to investigate and potentially prosecute state and local officials who don’t cooperate with the president’s plans to carry out the largest mass deportation campaign in U.S. history. In a memo to DOJ employees, acting deputy attorney general Emil Bove wrote that the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution and other legal authorities, “require state and local actors to comply with the Executive Branch’s immigration enforcement initiatives ... Federal law prohibits state and local actors from resisting, obstructing, and otherwise failing to comply with lawful immigration-related commands,” wrote Bove, a former federal prosecutor who a Donald Trump defense lawyer in his criminal cases, the Washington Post reports. Bove ordered U.S. Attorneys nationwide to “investigate incidents involving any such misconduct for potential prosecution,” including for harboring an immigrant in the U.S. illegally, failing to share information about a person’s immigration status with the federal government and conspiracy — crimes that carry potential prison terms.
Immigration officials can raid churches and schools to arrest undocumented immigrants after the Trump administration scrapped a policy that protected so-called sensitive spaces. The latest directive signals that the Department of Homeland Security will consider operations at sites previously deemed off-limits, Axios reports. "Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America's schools and churches to avoid arrest," The Homeland Security Department announced Tuesday. The policy, issued by Acting DHS Secretary Benjamine Huffman, removes prior guidance on sensitive areas. Trump, hours after being sworn in on Monday, issued executive orders that clear the way for the military to help combat illegal immigration. He declared a national emergency on the U.S.-Mexico border, called for more barriers at the southern border and designated Mexican cartels as a terrorism threat. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement in 2011 had directed officers to avoid arrests, interviews, searches and surveillance at sensitive locations if possible. Those locations included schools, hospitals, churches, synagogues, mosques, funeral sites, weddings, marches, rallies or parades.
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