By Adam Pagnucco.
As part of his continuing campaign of reign by executive order, President Donald Trump has issued two new orders that could target MoCo as well as many other jurisdictions. One of them even threatens to prosecute disobedient state and local officials. Do the federal jails have enough space to hold all of them?
The executive orders at hand are Protecting American Communities from Criminal Aliens and Strengthening and Unleashing America’s Law Enforcement to Pursue Criminals and Protect Innocent Citizens. Both threaten MoCo and likeminded localities, but in different ways.
The first order deals with immigration. Here are its key sections.
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Sec. 2. Designation of “Sanctuary” Jurisdictions. (a) Within 30 days of the date of this order, the Attorney General, in coordination with the Secretary of Homeland Security, shall publish a list of States and local jurisdictions that obstruct the enforcement of Federal immigration laws (sanctuary jurisdictions). After this initial publication, the Attorney General and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall update this list as necessary.
(b) Immediately following each publication under subsection (a) of this section, the Attorney General and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall notify each sanctuary jurisdiction regarding its defiance of Federal immigration law enforcement and any potential violations of Federal criminal law.
Sec. 3. Consequences for Sanctuary Jurisdiction Status. (a) With respect to sanctuary jurisdictions that are designated under section 2(a) of this order, the head of each executive department or agency (agency), in coordination with the Director of the Office of Management and Budget and as permitted by law, shall identify appropriate Federal funds to sanctuary jurisdictions, including grants and contracts, for suspension or termination, as appropriate.
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So Trump wants to strip federal funding from “sanctuary” jurisdictions. MoCo officials dating back to former County Executive Ike Leggett have long denied that MoCo is a “sanctuary” jurisdiction, but the county makes no effort to condition services on immigration status. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has previously called MoCo “newly cooperative” and county policy endeavors to keep local law enforcement out of immigration issues. However, an organization once led by top Trump advisor Stephen Miller accused MoCo of having “sanctuary policies” in December and the county government’s close relationship with CASA may raise eyebrows in Trump-land. An effort to strip funding, perhaps through a Musk-style clawback, seems likely to wind up in court.
Now to the order on law enforcement. It repeats Trump’s grievances against “equity” policies and calls on federal agencies to “increase the provision of excess military and national security assets in local jurisdictions to assist State and local law enforcement.” One wonders whether state and local officials will be given the option to decline such “assistance.” Here is the key enforcement section.
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Sec. 5. Holding State and Local Officials Accountable. The Attorney General shall pursue all necessary legal remedies and enforcement measures to enforce the rights of Americans impacted by crime and shall prioritize prosecution of any applicable violations of Federal criminal law with respect to State and local jurisdictions whose officials:
(a) willfully and unlawfully direct the obstruction of criminal law, including by directly and unlawfully prohibiting law enforcement officers from carrying out duties necessary for public safety and law enforcement; or
(b) unlawfully engage in discrimination or civil-rights violations under the guise of “diversity, equity, and inclusion” initiatives that restrict law enforcement activity or endanger citizens.
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Would this have impacted Council Member Will Jawando due to his offering a bill to restrict police consent searches? How about council members who voted for a law to restrict police use of force?
Look, there is not a state or county elected official in all of MoCo who wouldn’t love to be dragged off to jail by Trump’s stormtroopers. The only question is who would make the best video of it. Jawando? Evan Glass? Andrew Friedson? My bet is on Kristin Mink, who knows a few things about confronting Trump minions on camera. I bet a few people would come out of retirement just for the opportunity. George Leventhal and Jill Ortman-Fouse, are you reading this?
One upside for residents is that if a majority of the county council is locked up, they will have no quorum for votes to increase taxes. In fact, federal incarceration may be the only way to stop a tax hike.
The big question with these executive orders is not their intent, which is obvious, but the capacity of the Trump administration to implement them. The U.S. Justice Department is suffering from mass resignations, damaging its capacity to do much of anything, so its MAGA leaders will have to pick their spots. They need to target a small number of prominent jurisdictions to maximize media coverage and fire up the true believers. These jurisdictions need to be unabashedly left-wing, in major media markets and inclined to fight rather than surrender. Think of places like New York City, San Francisco and Chicago.
And who knows? Maybe MoCo.