(WNY News Now) The constitutional restrictions on federal attempts to seize state and local law enforcement for immigration enforcement have been confirmed by New York Attorney General Letitia James and ten other state attorneys general.
NEW YORK In response to a memo from a Trump political appointee at the U.S. Department of Justice regarding state and local involvement in federal immigration enforcement, New York Attorney General Letitia James and California Attorney General Rob Bonta led a coalition of 11 attorneys general in releasing a joint statement:
Long-standing Supreme Court decisions have established that the U.S. Constitution forbids the federal government from occupying states in order to impose federal laws. The court decided in Printz v. United States that the federal government cannot force the police officers of the 50 States to serve it at no expense to it, even though the federal government may utilize its own resources for federal immigration enforcement. One of the pillars of our American federalist system is the division of authority between the federal and state governments.
The President cannot unilaterally amend the Constitution, regardless of what he may declare to the contrary. In order to disrupt public servants’ capacity to establish trust with the communities they serve and protect, the President has made alarming threats to use the prosecutorial authority and resources of the U.S. Department of Justice as a weapon against those who are working in accordance with state law. These ambiguous threats are currently only words on paper. But don’t worry, if these remarks turn into illegal acts, our states won’t think twice about reacting.
Enforcing state laws is our duty as state attorneys general, and we will keep looking into and prosecuting offenses regardless of an individual’s legal status. The President’s plan for mass deportations won’t divert us.
The attorneys general of Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Mexico, Rhode Island, and Vermont have joined Attorney General James and California Attorney General Bonta in releasing this joint statement.