The Trump administration intends to challenge sanctuary city policies by threatening to bring charges against state and municipal officials who oppose federal immigration enforcement, according to a recent Justice Department document.
Federal prosecutors who choose not to pursue such immigration cases would be promptly sent to the Justice Department for examination and possible prosecution, according to the memo from acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove.
The three-page directive demonstrates how the Trump administration has been working for weeks to draft memos that they believe will be more resilient to legal challenges, according to CNN.
“Federal law prohibits state and local actors from resisting, obstructing, and otherwise failing to comply with lawful immigration-related commands and requests,” the memo reads. “The U.S. Attorney’s Offices and litigating components of the Department of Justice shall investigate incidents involving any such misconduct for potential prosecution.”
The department’s civil division is directed in the letter to assist in identifying state and municipal laws and policies that “threaten to impede” Trump’s immigration measures and to file legal challenges against them.
While the department waits for Pamela Bondi to be confirmed as attorney general, Bove’s memo refers to the modifications as interim policy guidance.
President Trump’s executive order to halt all federal DEI programs on Monday prompted the release of the memo.
Additionally, an order signed by the president states that “the official policy of the U.S. government to only recognize two genders: male and female.”
On Tuesday, Trump signed two additional executive actions that targeted DEI: a memo to repeal a Biden administration policy that gave preference to DEI hiring at the Federal Aviation Administration and an executive order to end discrimination in higher education and the workplace through sex- and race-based preferences under the pretense of DEI.
In the executive order signed Tuesday, Trump sought to protect Americans from discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin. He said these civil rights protections “serve as a bedrock supporting equality of opportunity for all Americans” and that he “has a solemn duty to ensure that these laws are enforced for the benefit of all Americans.”
“Yet today, roughly 60 years after the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, critical and influential institutions of American society, including the Federal Government, major corporations, financial institutions, the medical industry, large commercial airlines, law enforcement agencies, and institutions of higher education have adopted and actively use dangerous, demeaning, and immoral race- and sex-based preferences under the guise of so-called ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ (DEI) or ‘diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility’ (DEIA) that can violate the civil-rights laws of this Nation,” the order reads.
It adds that these “illegal DEI and DEIA policies also threaten the safety of American men, women, and children across the Nation by diminishing the importance of individual merit, aptitude, hard work, and determination when selecting people for jobs and services in key sectors of American society, including all levels of government, and the medical, aviation, and law-enforcement communities.”
“Illegal and discriminatory diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) hiring, including on the basis of race, sex, disability, or any other criteria other than the safety of airline passengers and overall job excellence, competency, and qualification, harms all Americans, who deserve to fly with confidence,” the memo reads. “It also penalizes hard-working Americans who want to serve in the FAA but are unable to do so, as they lack a requisite disability or skin color. FAA employees must hold the qualifications and have the ability to perform their jobs to the highest possible standard of excellence.”
The memo states: “All so-called DEI initiatives, including all dangerous preferencing policies or practices, shall immediately be rescinded in favor of hiring, promoting, and otherwise treating employees on the basis of individual capability, competence, achievement, and dedication.”