Trump's Justice Department sues New Jersey over order restricting immigration agents

The US Justice Department said Tuesday (24 January) it had sued the state of New Jersey and its Democratic governor, seeking to overturn an executive order limiting where federal immigration agents can operate.

New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill's order issued this month bars immigration officers from conducting enforcement action on state-owned properties that are not open to the public, unless they have a judicial warrant.

President Donald Trump has frequently lashed out at Democratic-led states he sees as hindering his mass deportation campaign.

In a lawsuit filed Monday, the Justice Department argued Sherrill's order was unconstitutional and interfered with the federal government's enforcement of immigration laws.

The agency said the order "directly regulates and discriminates against the Federal Government."

"Federal agents are risking their lives to keep New Jersey citizens safe, and yet New Jersey's leaders are enacting policies designed to obstruct and endanger law enforcement," US Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement on Tuesday.

"States may not deliberately interfere with our efforts to remove illegal aliens and arrest criminals -- New Jersey's sanctuary policies will not stand."

Sherrill, a Democrat who took office last month, told a news conference on Tuesday that the federal government should focus on training immigration agents "so they can operate better and more safely," according to US media reports.

Trump's mass deportation efforts have drawn national scrutiny following fatal shootings of two US citizens by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis in January.

On Monday, a former immigration official told members of Congress that training for federal agents was "deficient, defective and broken."

Still, the Justice Department in its lawsuit said the New Jersey order "poses an intolerable obstacle to federal immigration enforcement."