CBS: The Trump administration is suing four New Jersey sanctuary cities and their elected officials for alleged immigration violations.
The Justice Department alleges Newark, Hoboken, Jersey City and Paterson unlawfully obstructed federal immigration agents. Democratic Mayors Ras Baraka, Ravi Bhalla, Steven Fulop and Andre Sayegh, along with the four city councils, are named as defendants.
According to the federal government’s claims, “these cities (along with their elected officials) deny federal immigration agents access to illegal aliens in local custody; restrict local officers’ ability to hand over illegal aliens to federal agents; and bar otherwise willing local officers from providing mission-critical information to federal immigration authorities.”
Newark Mayor Ras Baraka says new DOJ lawsuit is “ridiculous”
The federal civil lawsuit challenges the validity of sanctuary city laws and seeks to have a judge strike them down.
Baraka, Newark’s mayor who was recently arrested outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in his city, said in a statement the new lawsuit is “absurd.” “It’s a waste of taxpayer money. It’s really ridiculous. There’s no evidence that sanctuary cities create a hazard for the people in the community or the police,” Baraka told CBS News New York. “They’re trying to scapegoat all of us because, you know, they told people that they were going to arrest millions of criminals, and what we’re finding out is that the people that they’re detaining are in fact, the majority are not criminals.”
Baraka’s previous case was dropped, but U.S. Rep. LaMonica McIver was federally charged with assault during the protest at Delaney Hall. She denied wrongdoing and called the charges “purely political.”
By and large, the Trump administration has not been successful at challenging sanctuary city laws. Several prior rulings have said the feds cannot use spending powers, or withhold funds, to coerce compliance with immigration laws. Courts have also ruled that state and local governments have autonomy to determine their own policies.
