DOJ Sues Newark, Three More New Jersey Cities Over Sanctuary Policies: ‘A frontal assault’; Feds Sue Four New Jersey Dem Mayors for Policies Blocking Immigration Enforcement

By admin On Jun 2, 2025

DOJ sues Newark, three more New Jersey cities over sanctuary policies: ‘A frontal assault’:

The Department of Justice sued four New Jersey cities Thursday for allegedly obstructing federal immigration authorities with their sanctuary policies, The Post can exclusively reveal.

The lawsuit claims officials in Newark, Jersey City, Paterson and Hoboken have been unconstitutionally blocking the feds from coordinating with local authorities to apprehend and deport illegal immigrants.

Acting Assistant Attorney General Yaakov Roth wrote in the complaint that the local policies amounted to “a frontal assault on the federal immigration laws and the federal authorities that administer them.”

“The express purpose and clear effect of these policies … is to thwart federal immigration enforcement,” Roth said. “[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.”

“This not only puts the safety of officers at risk, but also endangers the broader communities they are sworn to protect,” he added, claiming the policies violate the US Constitution’s supremacy clause.

The suit comes on the heels of a high-profile clash May 9 involving Democratic politicians at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center in Newark, which ended in the arrest of the city’s mayor Ras Baraka and led to federal charges against Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-NJ).

“Recent events have proven that these New Jersey officials care more about political showmanship than the safety of their communities,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement.

“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.”

On the day of his arrest, Baraka had joined Newark City Councilmember Kenyatta Stewart — as well as McIver and her follow New Jersey Democratic Reps. Bonnie Watson Coleman and Rob Menendez — to protest the reopening of the Delaney Hall ICE facility.

Acting New Jersey US Attorney Alina Habba chose not to press trespassing charges against Baraka, while accusing McIver of “assaulting, impeding and interfering with law enforcement.” —>READ MORE HERE

Feds sue four New Jersey Dem mayors for policies blocking immigration enforcement:

The U.S. government sued Newark, Jersey City, Paterson, and Hoboken and their elected officials for city policies prosecutors say interfere with the Trump administration’s immigration detention and deportation goals.

Prosecutors want a judge to declare the policies an unconstitutional violation of the Constitution’s supremacy clause, which holds that federal law prevails over state law. They also want an injunction to block the cities from protecting their residents and visitors from immigration enforcement.

“The United States is currently facing a crisis of illegal immigration, and the Federal Government is set to put a stop to it,” the lawsuit states. “While states and local governments are free to stand aside as the United States performs this important work, they cannot stand in the way. And where inaction crosses into obstruction, local governments break federal law. That is what is happening across New Jersey right now. It is past time it ends.”

The complaint, filed Thursday, names as defendants Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop, Paterson Mayor Andre Sayegh, Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla, and the cities’ council presidents (all four mayors are Democrats). Baraka and Fulop are among six Democrats running to become New Jersey’s next governor, and Baraka just two days ago beat another federal case against him over a contested immigration jail that recently opened in Newark.

Baraka blasted the latest prosecution as “absurd.”

“We are not standing in the way of public safety. We are upholding the Constitution, providing oversight, and following the laws and guidelines of the State of New Jersey,” he said in a statement. “Nothing in our policies prevents law enforcement from doing their jobs. What we refuse to do is turn our city into an arm of federal immigration enforcement, which the courts have already ruled is not our role.”