US Attorney General, Sheriffs Back Nolan

COURT HOUSE – On Oct. 15, 2019, Sheriff Robert Nolan and Cape May County filed a complaint against New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal, who issued a directive that ordered him to stop informing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) of jailed immigrants who entered the country illegally.
The Focus
Grewal Sept. 27 issued a directive to all state, county and local law enforcement agencies in New Jersey, ending the use of so-called “287(g) agreements,” which allow U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to deputize local law enforcement officers to perform federal civil immigration duties.
According to a release, the order, which revises the “Immigrant Trust Directive” that Grewal issued in November 2018, will have the practical effect of terminating the two 287(g) agreements still in effect in New Jersey, namely, those involving the Sheriff’s Offices in Cape May and Monmouth counties.
In the Interim
Since then, Nolan went to Washington to confer with U.S. Department of Justice and ICE officials.
The suit was filed in U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey in Trenton by County Counsel Jeffrey Lindsay, for the county, and Sen. Michael Testa (R-1st), for Nolan.
 It is a civil action that seeks declaratory and injunctive relief from the court that would prevent the AG from enforcing the terms of his directive.
Subsequently, the Department of Justice filed a brief Jan. 24 supporting Cape May County and Ocean County’s legal challenges to the Immigrant Trust Directive.
NJ Attorney General’s Stance
In response to the DOJ action, Grewal issued a response Jan. 25:
“I am deeply disappointed that the Trump Administration, the Department of Justice, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office have suddenly chosen to challenge New Jersey’s Immigrant Trust Directive in court over a year after it was issued.  At a time when we need to be building bridges with our immigrant communities, the federal government is working to push them further into the shadows.
“The Immigrant Trust Directive serves an important role in New Jersey: to ensure that all residents, including our diverse immigrant communities, feel safe interacting with state and local police. That helps us protect public safety by ensuring that victims and witnesses come forward and report crimes to law enforcement without fear of deportation.
“Nothing about today’s lawsuit changes that. The federal government has every right to keep doing its job, but it has no right to stop our law enforcement officers from doing ours. 
“The federal government’s efforts to coerce states into implementing its immigration agenda have failed repeatedly in the past, and we’ll respond to their latest efforts in court at the appropriate time. 
Speaking to League of Municipalities
Nolan told the Cape May County League of Municipalities Feb. 27 of his continued efforts in the effort to continue, what he views as, his sworn duty to protect citizens from criminals. Allowing those criminals to walk free, he believes, would possibly cause harm because of the crimes some of those arrested have allegedly committed.
U.S. Attorney General
U.S. Attorney General William Barr addressed the National Sheriffs’ Association Winter Legislative and Technology Conference in Washington Feb. 10.
At that event, Barr voiced concerns that the nation faces, and singled out Nolan efforts to uphold federal law.
“We have filed legal briefs in dozens of cases at the federal, state, and local levels to defend the lawful authority of our state and local law enforcement partners to work with DHS (Department of Homeland Security).
“We filed the most recent of these briefs about two weeks ago to support a case involving Sheriff Robert A. Nolan of Cape May County, N.J.
“The department (of Justice) is filing a complaint against the State of New Jersey seeking declaratory and injunctive relief against its laws that forbid state and local law enforcement from sharing vital information about criminal aliens with DHS,” Barr stated.
The county and Nolan were not alone in Barr’s speech.
Barr cited a complaint filed against the State of California “for its new law that…prohibits the federal government from detaining individuals in private detention facilities. California has every right to decide how it wants to manage is own prisoners and detainees, but is has no authority to dictate to the federal government how it conducts federal operations.”
While Barr pointed to decades under both Republican and Democratic administrations, “the priority for immigration enforcement has been identifying these criminal aliens and deporting them from the country as soon as they are eligible for release by state and local authorities.
“Those efforts are a vital part of how we keep our country safe, Immigration enforcement is an essential part of law enforcement.
“Unfortunately, in various jurisdictions, so-called ‘progressive’ politicians are jeopardizing the public’s safety by putting the interests of criminal aliens before those of law-abiding citizens,” said Barr. “They have put in place policies and law designed to thwart the ability of federal officers to take custody of these criminals and thereby help them escape back into the community. They often proudly brand their jurisdictions as ‘sanctuaries’ and package their obstructive policies in idealistic and misleading rhetoric about “protecting the immigrant community,” Barr continued.
Such actions, Barr noted, are not lawful, “because the Constitution vests the federal government with the sole authority to make and enforce immigration law. For decades, Congress enacted immigrant laws authorizing the removal of aliens in the United States who commit certain crimes.
“Those laws have been passed by members of both political parties and signed by presidents of both political parties.”
Case Resides in Trenton
Nolan told the Herald the case was assigned to the federal court in Trenton before Chief Judge Freda L. Wolfson. Both sides in the matter had filed briefs by the deadline.
Not Anti-Immigration
Nolan underscored his intentions, “I am not anti-immigration. What I’m trying to do is hold these immigrants committing crimes and violating the sanctity of our laws. I would never advocate or support rounding up people. Because of their efforts to come here. I support them. We are not gathering them up. We want to process those who commit a crime, who can abide by our laws, and turn them over to ICE. I don’t want people to be scared to death.”
Nolan said the National Sheriffs’ Association is “supporting my position.”