The DOJ just dropped lawsuits on four Democrat-run states: Maine, Massachusetts, Oregon, and Washington.
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ICE uses the license plates to arrest fugitives, conduct
surveillance, investigate missing persons and missing child cases, and conduct abduction investigations involving dangerous actors.
In a statement, [Acting AG Todd Blanche] said that 'denying undercover license plates to DHS components, including ICE, while issuing them to their own state agencies, these governors are pursuing discriminatory and obstructionist policies against federal law enforcement.'
'These actions undermine federal immigration enforcement, allow dangerous criminals to escape justice, and terrorize American communities,' he added.
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Yes, according to the DOJ, these states happily hand out undercover plates to their own agencies but suddenly get a case of the vapors when DHS shows up asking for the same thing.
The DOJ is arguing this violates the Supremacy Clause and endangers officers.
Massachusetts' excuse is that immigration enforcement is apparently not "legitimate criminal law enforcement." Their spokesperson basically said the quiet part loud: "We're not going to enable their tactics."
You mean making sure illegal immigrants and the cartels smuggling them have a harder time spotting federal agents?
Maine, for its part, paused new plates in January after rumors of an immigration operation. They were worried the feds were planning to use them for, wait for it ... civil immigration enforcement.
The horror! The absolute tyranny!
From The Virginia Pilot:
The federal suit against Maine argues that the state 'has issued confidential license plates to law enforcement agencies for many years' and that 'such plates are explicitly authorized under Maine law.' The state's review this year, the suit argues, resulted in unlawful state regulation of the federal government by requiring federal applicants for state license plates to attest that federal vehicles that obtained confidential plates would not be used for civil immigration enforcement. The suit also states that Maine did not impose commensurate requirements on state or local agencies applying for the plates, making the program discriminatory against the federal government.
The states, of course, will fight this because nothing screams "rule of law" like fighting your own country for, you know, protecting you from criminals.
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