Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell, Jan. 23, 2025
“Massachusetts Legal professional Basic Andrea Pleasure Campbell, together with the attorneys basic of California, New York, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Vermont, Minnesota, and Washington, at this time issued a joint assertion addressing a memorandum from a Trump political appointee on the U.S. Division of Justice addressing state and native involvement in federal immigration enforcement:
“It’s well-established—by longstanding Supreme Courtroom precedent—that the U.S. Structure prevents the federal authorities from commandeering states to implement federal legal guidelines. Whereas the federal authorities might use its personal sources for federal immigration enforcement, the court docket dominated in Printz v. United States that the federal authorities can not ‘impress into its service—and without charge to itself—the cops of the 50 States.’ This stability of energy between the federal authorities and state governments is a touchstone of our American system of federalism.
“Regardless of what he might say on the contrary, the President can not unilaterally re-write the Structure. The President has made troubling threats to weaponize the U.S. Division of Justice’s prosecutorial authority and sources to assault public servants appearing in compliance with their state legal guidelines, interfering with their potential to construct belief with the communities they serve and shield. Proper now, these imprecise threats are simply that: empty phrases on paper. However relaxation assured, our states is not going to hesitate to reply if these phrases change into unlawful actions.
“As state attorneys basic, we now have a duty to implement state legal guidelines – and we are going to proceed to analyze and prosecute crimes, no matter immigration standing. We is not going to be distracted by the President’s mass deportation agenda.”
