The US Justice Department has threatened local and state authorities with prosecution if they fail to cooperate with President Donald Trump's immigration policies, which include a pledge to deport millions of undocumented immigrants.
Citing a constitutional clause concerning division of power, acting deputy attorney general Emil Bove said in a memorandum that "federal law prohibits state and local actors from resisting, obstructing, and otherwise failing to comply with lawful immigration-related commands."
"The Department of Justice shall investigate incidents involving any such misconduct for potential prosecution," Bove added in the memo issued late Tuesday and published by US media on Wednesday.
Trump announced severe new restrictions on immigration and asylum in the United States hours after taking office on Monday, including a plan to send troops to the US-Mexico border and end birthright citizenship.
The Republican president vowed during his White House campaign to carry out the largest mass deportation of migrants in US history.
Bove said a newly created Sanctuary Cities Enforcement Working Group would identify "state and local laws, policies, and activities that are inconsistent with Executive Branch immigration initiatives and, where appropriate, to take legal action to challenge such laws."
A number of Democratic-controlled "sanctuary cities" in the United States restrict cooperation with federal immigration authorities.
"Laws and actions that threaten to impede Executive Branch immigration initiatives, including by prohibiting disclosures of information to federal authorities engaged in immigration enforcement activities, threaten public safety and national security," Bove said.
Bove, who served as one of Trump's personal lawyers before being named to the Justice Department, also directed the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Forces to participate "in the execution of President Trump's immigration-related initiatives."
The FBI and other agencies should "review their files for identifying information and/or biometric data relating to non-citizens located illegally in the United States" and turn it over to the Department of Homeland Security to facilitate removals, he said.
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