ACLU Letter and Memo on the Trump Administration’s Legally Baseless Threats Against State and Local Officials

WASHINGTON — The Department of Justice’s memo threatening local officials with criminal prosecution for refusing to carry out the Trump administration’s mass deportation agenda is legally baseless and harmful to our communities, the American Civil Liberties Union wrote in a memo and public letter to Acting Attorney General James McHenry released today. “The Constitution and our laws are clear: The federal government cannot bully state officials into carrying out deportations, nor can they punish them for declining,” said Deirdre Schifeling, ACLU chief political and advocacy officer. “We understand that checks and balances, including the authority of states to direct the use of their resources, may be frustrating to the president. Nevertheless, the Department and this administration are bound by the Constitution. State and local governments cannot be compelled to carry out the Trump administration's political agenda of sowing fear and division in our communities.” “Local collaboration with ICE also drives immigrant communities into the shadows and makes everyone less safe. Where local officials are seen to be agents of ICE, people in mixed-status families do not feel safe going to school, seeking medical care, or talking to the police. As law enforcement officials across the country have made clear, it is critical to keep local functions separate from immigration enforcement,” the memo reads. The memo further highlights that the Tenth Amendment and Supreme Court precedent affirm that the federal government cannot compel the states to enforce federal law. Moreover, it details that courts have specifically addressed ICE’s requests for deportation assistance and have held that these requests are and must be voluntary, and that ICE itself has repeatedly admitted that its requests are not mandatory. “[S]tate and local officials cannot validly be prosecuted for devoting their resources to local needs rather than ICE’s deportation machine. ICE remains free to operate anywhere in the country; that does not change just because a State declines to lend its own resources. But ICE cannot forcibly expand its personnel by conscripting local police into its service,” the memo continues. The letter and memo are here: https://www.aclu.org/documents/aclu-letter-and-memo-on-the-trump-administrations-legally-baseless-threats-against-state-and-local-officials