Trump Doj Gears Up For Immigration Enforcement

Acting deputy attorney general Emil Bove on Tuesday called for a major redeployment of Justice Department resources to immigration enforcement, including redirecting anti-terrorism squads.

In some of the first known actions of President Donald Trump’s Justice Department, the acting deputy AG directed the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Forces “to assist in the execution of President Trump’s immigration-related initiatives,” according to a DOJ-wide memo obtained by POLITICO.

That refocus could roil many of the task forces, since many members of those teams are state and local police and some are forbidden by sanctuary laws or policies from engaging in immigration crackdowns.

Bove also called on U.S. attorneys to prosecute “state and local actors” who resist, obstruct or “fail to comply with lawful immigration-related commands and requests.” The memo raises the specter of state or local officials being charged with harboring undocumented immigrants, as well as the possibility of lawsuits against localities that try to prevent police from sharing information with federal immigration officials.

During Trump’s first term, his appointees made similar threats to take legal action against state and local officials, but only did so in a few instances, with mixed results.

The memo, billed as announcing “interim” changes, signals a desire by senior DOJ officials not to be undermined by the possible foot-dragging of career prosecutors.

“Declination decisions with respect to resistance, obstruction or other non-compliance with lawful immigration-related commands and requests from Federal Authorities shall be disclosed” to DOJ leadership through an urgent reporting channel, the directive says.

Bove’s memo also reversed several changes the Biden administration made to criminal charging policies. He directed prosecutors to “pursue the most serious, readily provable offense” against each defendant, reverting to a May 2017 memo issued by Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

Bove is a former federal prosecutor who was part of Trump’s criminal defense team at the trial in New York last spring where he was convicted on hush-money related state charges. Bove also worked on Trump’s defense in the federal cases in Washington over Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results and in Florida over a slew of classified documents stored at Mar-a-Lago.

Trump’s lead defense attorney in those cases, Todd Blanche, has been nominated to be Bove’s boss as deputy attorney general, but the Senate has not yet held a confirmation hearing for Blanche.

Trump tapped Bove as principal associate deputy attorney general, which does not require Senate confirmation and is typically a pivotal role in day-to-day management of the department. Trump has selected Bove to act as DOJ’s No. 2 official until Blanche is confirmed.