Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche on Thursday threatened to prosecute California officials who support arresting federal immigration agents, sharpening the standoff between the Trump administration and local leaders.
Mr. Blanche conveyed the warning in a letter a day after several officials in San Francisco, including Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the former speaker, and Brooke Jenkins, the city’s district attorney, said that they might seek to arrest federal agents who break California law during immigration raids.
The suggestion, Ms. Jenkins said, came from seeing agents confronting people in Los Angeles and Chicago. While she did not envision police officers handcuffing federal agents on city streets, she said she would use video footage to identify agents using excessive force and ask a judge for arrest warrants.
Their idea would be to prosecute immigration agents who overstep their authority, for example by using excessive force, state officials said. But the ability of states to arrest federal officers is without much legal precedent.
Mr. Blanche said in the letter that arresting federal agents performing their duties would violate federal laws against impeding enforcement operations. He posted the letter on social media, addressing it to Gov. Gavin Newsom of California and the California attorney general, Rob Bonta, as well as Ms. Pelosi and Ms. Jenkins.
He also said that the Constitution’s supremacy clause prevents federal officers from being held on a state criminal charge if the alleged crime occurred while the officer was performing federal duties.
“The Department of Justice will investigate and prosecute any state or local official who violates these federal statutes,” he wrote, “or directs or conspires with others to violate them.”
He concluded that “federal agents and officers will continue to enforce federal law and will not be deterred by the threat of arrest by California authorities.”
The Trump administration had said on Wednesday that it was sending U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents to Alameda, Calif., to prepare for an operation in the San Francisco Bay Area. President Trump on Thursday called off the crackdown in the city, though it was unclear what that meant for the rest of the Bay Area.
Mr. Trump has sent federal agents and troops to other cities, including Chicago, Los Angeles, Memphis, Portland, Ore., and Washington, D.C., saying the deployments will curb crime and illegal immigration. Critics have said that he is using the them to punish Democratic-led cities and spread fear in immigrant communities.
John Yoon is a Times reporter based in Seoul who covers breaking and trending news.
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