(The Center Square) — A federal judge has tossed out a Trump administration lawsuit challenging ‘sanctuary’ policies in several New Jersey cities that restrict local cooperation with immigration crackdowns.
The ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Evelyn Padin, issued Thursday, rejected claims by the Department of Justice that laws in Newark, Jersey City, Paterson and Hoboken prohibiting local police from working with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to apprehend suspected undocumented immigrants violate the U.S. Constitution and are preempted by federal law.
In her decision, Padin said the federal government’s complaint is flawed because it doesn’t challenge a long-established statewide sanctuary policy, codified into law by Democratic Gov. Mikie Sherrill earlier this year.
Because of that, she wrote in the 38-page ruling, those cities would still be bound by the state’s ‘sanctuary’ law, even if the court granted the federal government’s request. She noted that New Jersey’s Immigrant Trust Directive has been upheld by numerous court rulings.
“The Federal Government’s case has a fundamental flaw — it treats the Challenged Policies as though they operate in isolation. They do not,” Padin wrote in the 38-page ruling.
Padin — a Biden appointee — dismissed the case without prejudice, allowing the Trump administration 45 days to file a new complaint. It wasn’t immediately clear if the DOJ planned to file a new lawsuit.
The DOJ’s initial legal challenge, filed in U.S. District Court in May, argued that sanctuary laws in the state’s four largest cities are “not only unlawful but dangerous” and called the federal court to rule the restrictions are unconstitutional.
“Where inaction crosses into obstruction, local governments break federal law,” the complaint reads. “That is what is happening across New Jersey right now. It is past time it ends.”
Jersey City Mayor James Solomon, a Democrat, called the ruling “a victory for our values and cements our place as America’s Golden Door,” and vowed to continue enforcing the city’s sanctuary policies.
“Jersey City has always welcomed immigrants, our city was built by immigrants, and we will always protect our immigrant neighbors,” he said in a statement.
New Jersey is also facing a lawsuit from the DOJ challenging an executive order signed by Sherrill that bars ICE agents from using state-owned property as staging areas for operations, among other provisions. The DOJ said the directive violates federal laws and accuses her administration of “harboring criminal offenders” from law enforcement.
