The Department of Justice on Monday filed a lawsuit against New Jersey over Gov. Mikie Sherrill’s (D-NJ) executive order to prohibit immigration authorities from non-public parts of state-owned property unless they have a judicial warrant.
The lawsuit, announced Tuesday, lists three counts of violation of the supremacy clause, which establishes federal law as “supreme law of the land,” even if it contradicts state law.
“The State of New Jersey has adopted this policy with the clear objective of obstructing President Trump from enforcing federal immigration law,” the lawsuit reads. “The policy is designed to and in fact does interfere with and discriminate against the Executive’s enforcement of federal immigration law in violation of the Supremacy Clause.”
The DOJ claims Sherrill’s “blatant disregard” for federal laws is not just “a political statement, but is instead deliberate action that jeopardizes the public safety of all Americans.”
Sherrill signed Executive Order 12 on Feb. 11, which not only barred immigration authorities from non-public parts of state-owned property but also prohibited them from using state property as a “staging area, processing location, or operations base.”
Her efforts against immigration enforcement went further, as she had previously vowed to create a statewide database to compile videos of officers operating throughout the state.
During an unrelated news conference, Sherrill commented on the lawsuit and said the federal government’s focus is in the wrong place.
“I think what the federal government needs to be focused on right now, instead of attacking states like New Jersey working to keep people safe, is actually training their [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] agents with some modicum of training, like any law enforcement officer in the state of New Jersey would have, so they can operate better and more safely,” she said.
Acting New Jersey Attorney General Lauren Davenport shared similar sentiments to Sherill.
“Instead of working with us to promote public safety and protect our state’s residents, the Trump Administration is wasting its resources on a pointless legal challenge to Governor Sherrill’s executive order,” Davenport said in a statement. “Under Governor Sherrill’s leadership, New Jersey will continue to ensure the safety of our state’s immigrant communities.”
Sherrill is not alone in establishing policies that restrict immigration operations. Govs. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) and Kathy Hochul (D-NY) have also signed orders restricting ICE.
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The federal action against New Jersey is the latest by President Donald Trump and his administration to take on what they deem as sanctuary-city policies.
In August, the DOJ published a list of sanctuary cities and vowed to bring litigation against those whose policies impede federal law enforcement’s ability to operate in the area.