California Ag Pushes Back On Trump Threat To Prosecute Officials Who Don’t Comply With Ice

California Attorney General Rob Bonta on Wednesday condemned a memo from the Trump administration threatening the prosecution of state and local officials who resist or refuse to comply with federal immigration enforcement agents, calling it a “scare tactic.”

“The President is attempting to intimidate and bully state and local law enforcement into carrying out his mass deportation agenda for him,” Bonta said in a statement.

Bonta, a Democrat who is poised to become one of the top antagonists to the Trump administration, said he is prepared to take legal action if the “vague threats turn to illegal action.” He has already joined a lawsuit over President Donald Trump’s attempt to end birthright citizenship and has pledged to enforce a 2018 state law, SB 54, that limits local law enforcement’s cooperation with federal immigration authorities.

White House principal deputy press secretary Harrison Fields told POLITICO that "radical Leftists can either choose to swim against the tide and reject the overwhelming will of the people, or they can get on board and work with President Trump to advance his wildly popular agenda."

"These lawsuits are nothing more than an extension of the Left’s resistance — and the Trump Administration is ready to face them in court," Fields said in response to Bonta's statement.

The U.S. Department of Justice memo, written by Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove, doesn’t mention California’s sanctuary law, but states that “federal law prohibits state and local actors from resisting, obstructing, and otherwise failing to comply with lawful immigration-related commands.”

In his response, Bonta noted that SB 54 survived a legal challenge from Trump in 2019.

“SB 54 does not prevent state and local law enforcement from investigating and prosecuting crimes,” Bonta said. “Nor does it prevent federal agencies from conducting immigration enforcement themselves; what it says is that they cannot make us do their jobs for them.”