CONCORD, N.H. — The Department of Justice’s January 21, 2025 memo threatening local officials with criminal prosecution for refusing to carry out the Trump administration’s mass deportation agenda is legally baseless and harmful to our communities, the American Civil Liberties Union of New Hampshire wrote in a letter to the Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of New Hampshire, released today.
“The assertions in this memorandum are legally baseless and a direct assault on the constitutional prerogative of every state and locality to opt out of immigration enforcement. These prosecutions would violate the Constitution, which does not let the federal government force States to help with immigration enforcement,” the letter reads.
The letter sent today by the ACLU of New Hampshire also details how the Department of Justice’s threats would harm New Hampshire communities.
“Local collaboration with ICE also drives immigrant communities into the shadows and makes everyone less safe. Where local officials are seen to be agents of ICE, people in mixed-status families do not feel safe going to school, seeking medical care, or talking to the police. As law enforcement officials across the country have made clear, it is critical to keep local functions separate from immigration enforcement,” it says.
It also highlights that the Tenth Amendment and Supreme Court precedent affirm that the federal government cannot compel the states to enforce federal law. Moreover, it details that courts have specifically addressed ICE’s requests for deportation assistance and have held that these requests are and must be voluntary, and that ICE itself has repeatedly admitted that its requests are not mandatory.
“[S]tate and local officials cannot validly be prosecuted for devoting their resources to local needs rather than ICE’s deportation machine. ICE remains free to operate anywhere in the country; that does not change just because a State declines to lend its own resources. But ICE cannot forcibly expand its personnel by conscripting local police into its service,” the letter continues.