U.S. Attorney General William Barr says he will sue New Jersey as part of an offensive against sanctuary cities protecting illegal aliens. From Fox News:
Charging that so-called “sanctuary” cities that protect illegal immigrants are jeopardizing domestic security, Attorney General Bill Barr announced a slew of additional sanctions that he called a “significant escalation” against left-wing local and state governments that obstruct the “lawful functioning of our nation’s immigration system.”
Speaking at the National Sheriff’s Association 2020 Winter Legislative and Technology Conference in Washington, D.C., Barr said the Justice Department would immediately file multiple lawsuits against sanctuary jurisdictions for interfering with federal immigration enforcement, and implement unprecedented national reviews of left-wing sanctuary governments and prosecutors.
“The department is filing a complaint against the State of New Jersey seeking declaratory and injunctive relief against its laws that forbid state and local law enforcement from sharing vital information about criminal aliens with DHS,” Barr said.
This is ultimately a federalist issue. ICE detainers have always been requests because there is a strict distinction between federal laws and state laws and how law enforcement is asked to help the feds implement federal law. It will definitely be interesting to see if this action keeps that balance between fed and state power when its being used to protect illegal aliens.
Here’s what Barr says about it:
Sanctuary cities, Barr said, are defined as those with policies that allow “criminal aliens to escape” federal law enforcement — and some jurisdictions are becoming “more aggressive” in undermining immigration authorities, with some local politicians develop “schemes” to circumvent immigration officials.
“The express purpose of these policies is to shelter aliens whom local law enforcement has already arrested for crimes,” Barr said, noting that the Constitution empowers the federal government to enforce immigration laws, even as it entrusted the police power to the states. “This is neither lawful nor sensible.”
I do think that you can be against sanctuary cities, can be for immigration law enforcement, and still think this represents an overextension of federal authority over the states. I will withhold judgement until I see what is said about this issue by people I trust…