CNN Legal Analyst Stunned By ‘Extraordinary’ Donald Trump Move That’s ‘Sent Shock Waves'
CNN senior legal analyst Elie Honig on Wednesday flagged what he described as an “extraordinary” element of a new three-page memo released by the Justice Department, which forms a key part of returning President Donald Trump’s actions against immigration.
Acting deputy Attorney General Emil Bove’s memo giving federal prosecutors the power to investigate local officials for alleged obstruction of immigration enforcement “sent shock waves through the legal and political world,” Honig said on CNN’s “NewsNight.”
“Part of it is completely normal,” acknowledged Honig, who himself is a former federal and state prosecutor. The business-as-usual part is Trump’s second administration “doing what all new administrations do, saying we are going to prioritize this type of crime. Sometimes it’s financial crime, public corruption. Here, it’s immigration,” he explained.
The “extraordinary” part, though, per Honig, is the Justice Department essentially saying: “‘Hey, locals, state and local authorities,’ and by the way, I was federal and state so I can see this from both sides. ‘If you get in our way, if you obstruct what we’re doing, we might prosecute you.’”
“Now, it’s normal to say, ‘OK we’re the feds, we have this priority. State and locals, we would love your help. We will solicit your help. We expect your help,’” Honig continued. “But to threaten them with prosecution, that is very heavy-handed. And I understand why there’s been a lot of pushback to it.”
Host Abby Phillip asked if it was legal.
Honig drew an “important distinction.”
“There has been some reporting out there that says the feds have said we’re going to prosecute you locals if you don’t comply,” he noted. “That’s not really what this memo says. It’s not a crime. If the feds call up the Chicago Police Department and say, ‘We’re going to be doing an immigration raid, and we’d like your help,’ and the locals say, ‘No, thank you.’ That’s not a crime. That’s not what’s being threatened in here.”
“What is being threatened is if you commit a crime, if you harbor an illegal alien, which is a federal crime,” he detailed. “Now, typically, DOJ has overlooked that. That’s within prosecutorial discretion. But what the feds are saying is, ‘If you, locals, if you harbor an illegal alien, if you obstruct our efforts to enforce this law, then we might prosecute you.’”
“Technically speaking” it can happen, said Honig. “But it is extraordinary for DOJ to actually threaten locals with prosecution.”
