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WASHINGTON – U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has directed prosecutors to investigate officials who resist immigration enforcement efforts, intensifying a sweeping crackdown that the President launched the day he took office.

President Trump’s acting deputy attorney general, Emil Bove, told Justice Department staff that state and local authorities must cooperate with the immigration crackdown and federal prosecutors “shall investigate incidents involving any such misconduct for potential prosecution.”
 
The new memo underscored how the Justice Department may try to back the new immigration agenda by expanding threats of criminal charges beyond immigrants or those who employ them to city and state officials. It is the latest in a series of executive actions President Trump has taken to curb illegal immigration, his top priority.
 
In the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday 46 Democrats – one-fifth of their number – joined 217 Republicans to pass legislation that would require immigrants who are in the country illegally to be held for deportation if they are accused of theft.
 
The bill has already passed the Senate with Democratic support and now heads to Trump’s desk to be signed into law.
 
 
TROOPS TO BORDER

President Trump has issued a broad ban on asylum and taken steps to restrict citizenship for children born on American soil. A U.S. official said on Wednesday the military would dispatch 1,000 additional active-duty troops to the Mexico-U.S. border on Trump’s orders.

The administration has rescinded guidance from his Democratic predecessor Joe Biden that had limited immigration arrests near schools, churches and other sensitive places. Trump has also expanded immigration officers’ power to deport migrants who cannot prove they have been in the U.S. for longer than two years.

His move to expand fast-track deportations faced a legal challenge on Wednesday, with immigration advocacy group Make the Road New York filing a lawsuit arguing the policy known as expedited removal violated the constitutional right to due process, immigration law, and administrative law.

U.S. civil rights groups meanwhile warned that an executive order signed by Trump on Monday – setting a 60-day window for officials to identify countries whose vetting and screening processes are “so deficient as to warrant a partial or full suspension on the admission of nationals from those countries” – laid the groundwork for reinstatement of a ban on travelers from predominantly Muslim or Arab countries.

 

TARGETING SANCTUARY CITIES

State and local officials who resist or obstruct immigration enforcement could be charged under federal laws against defrauding the U.S. or harboring immigrants who are in the U.S. unlawfully, according to the Justice Department memo.

Prosecutors who opt not to file criminal charges will need to explain their reasoning to superiors, the memo said.

The department this week also reassigned close to 20 career officials, transferring some to a new unit aimed at stopping sanctuary cities from resisting Trump’s immigration plans.

RAI interview with lawyer Brancaccio discussing the changes that will occur under the administration of newly elected President Trump and the feasibility of a mass deportation and possible defenses