Trump’s DOJ is fighting back against the radical Left. They aren’t standing down anytime soon.
And the Department of Justice slapped these Leftist cities in the face with a major lawsuit.
Justice Department Targets New Jersey Sanctuary Cities in Federal Lawsuit
The U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit on Thursday against four New Jersey cities—Newark, Jersey City, Paterson, and Hoboken—accusing them of undermining federal immigration enforcement through their sanctuary city policies, the New York Post has exclusively learned.
The lawsuit contends that these cities have implemented policies that unconstitutionally block federal immigration authorities from collaborating with local law enforcement to detain and deport undocumented immigrants. Acting Assistant Attorney General Yaakov Roth, in the legal filing, called these measures “a frontal assault on the federal immigration laws and the federal authorities that administer them.”
According to Roth, the policies are deliberately crafted to hinder federal immigration efforts. “[E]ven where local law enforcement wants to help the United States deal with the nation’s immigration crisis, the Challenged Policies impede them from doing so,” he wrote. He argued that these restrictions endanger both law enforcement officers and the communities they protect and violate the U.S. Constitution’s supremacy clause.
Recent Tensions Fuel Legal Action
The lawsuit follows a high-profile incident on May 9 at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Newark, where protests led by Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, Newark City Councilmember Kenyatta Stewart, and Democratic Reps. LaMonica McIver, Bonnie Watson Coleman, and Rob Menendez erupted over the reopening of the Delaney Hall detention center. The clash resulted in Baraka’s arrest and federal charges against McIver for “assaulting, impeding and interfering with law enforcement.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi sharply criticized the officials involved, stating, “Recent events have proven that these New Jersey officials care more about political showmanship than the safety of their communities.”
She vowed that the Justice Department would continue to pursue legal action against sanctuary cities, declaring, “As I have made clear, this Justice Department does not tolerate local officials in sanctuary cities obstructing immigration enforcement: there is more litigation to come.”
Acting New Jersey U.S. Attorney Alina Habba chose not to pursue trespassing charges against Baraka but emphasized accountability, saying, “I have persistently made efforts to address these issues without bringing criminal charges and have given Representative McIver every opportunity to come to a resolution, but she unfortunately declined.”
She added, “No one is above the law — politicians or otherwise.” A federal judge recently described Baraka’s arrest as a “worrisome misstep.”
A Pattern of Legal Challenges
This lawsuit is part of a series of DOJ actions targeting sanctuary policies, with similar cases filed earlier this year against New York, Illinois, and Colorado. Critics of sanctuary jurisdictions often cite instances where undocumented immigrants, released without ICE notification, later commit serious crimes.
One notable case involved Jose Ibarra, a Venezuelan gang member who m*rdered Georgia nursing student Laken Riley in February 2024 after being released in New York City despite prior charges.
In New York, a Republican-led bill named after Riley, which would have required local authorities to share arrest records with ICE, was blocked by the state’s Democratic-controlled legislature. Gov. Kathy Hochul and other Democratic leaders argue that cooperation with federal authorities is permissible with a judicial warrant.
The DOJ’s New York lawsuit challenges a 2019 state law that prohibits immigration status inquiries and restricts the Department of Motor Vehicles from sharing personal data without a court order.
Overall Implications
President Trump has issued executive orders to review federal funding for sanctuary jurisdictions and to prohibit undocumented immigrants from accessing public benefits, signaling a continued push against such policies. As the legal battles unfold, the clash between federal authority and local sanctuary policies remains a contentious issue, with significant implications for immigration enforcement and community safety.
Stay tuned to the Conservative Column.
