New Jersey Democrats spent years watching their party get wiped out in national elections over border security – then turned around and made it worse.
New Jersey's brand-new Democratic governor, Mikie Sherrill, signed an executive order thirteen days ago barring ICE agents from operating on state property without a judicial warrant – including state prisons where criminal illegal aliens are waiting to be deported.
Now Pam Bondi has had enough, and what she's saying New Jersey just did will put convicted criminals – people with aggravated assault, burglary, drug trafficking, and human trafficking convictions – right back onto New Jersey streets.
DOJ Lawsuit Targets Sherrill's Sanctuary Order That Blocks ICE From New Jersey Prisons
The Justice Department filed suit in federal court Monday, targeting Sherrill's Executive Order No. 12 directly.
The order doesn't just restrict ICE from conducting arrests on state property – it bans federal agents from using state prisons, courthouses, and parking garages as staging and processing sites entirely.
That's the critical detail buried in the complaint: when ICE can't pick up a removable alien inside a controlled prison environment, that alien gets released to the street first.
The DOJ complaint spells out exactly who those people are – illegal aliens convicted of aggravated assault, burglary, and drug and human trafficking offenses who would otherwise be handed directly to federal custody.
"Federal agents are risking their lives to keep New Jersey citizens safe," Bondi said in her statement, "and yet New Jersey's leaders are enacting policies designed to obstruct and endanger law enforcement."
She didn't stop there.
"States may not deliberately interfere with our efforts to remove illegal aliens and arrest criminals – New Jersey's sanctuary policies will not stand."
Bondi Has Already Sued New York, LA and Minnesota – New Jersey Is Next
New Jersey isn't an isolated case – it's the latest target in a systematic national campaign Bondi launched on her first day in office.
She immediately directed the DOJ's civil division to identify every state and local law obstructing federal immigration enforcement nationwide.
By August 2025, the department had published its official list of sanctuary jurisdictions and began filing lawsuits one by one – New York City, Los Angeles, Minnesota, Rochester, and others, each sued for the same constitutional violation.
The DOJ has now targeted New Jersey specifically because Sherrill escalated – she didn't just maintain existing sanctuary policies, she expanded them with a new executive order signed just thirteen days into her governorship.
New Jersey Democrats didn't stop at the governor's office.
State legislators simultaneously introduced what they openly called the "F—ICE Act" – officially the "Fight Unlawful Conduct and Keep Individuals and Communities Empowered Act" – legislation that would let New Jersey residents file civil lawsuits against ICE agents in state court.
That's the direction this is heading: not just refusing to cooperate with federal law enforcement, but handing residents a legal weapon to use against it.
The Supremacy Clause Is Not a Suggestion
Here's what every single one of these sanctuary lawsuits comes down to: Article VI of the Constitution, which establishes federal law as the supreme law of the land.
Democrats keep pretending that governors have the authority to simply override federal immigration law by executive order.
They don't.
The DOJ has won this argument in multiple jurisdictions – courts have consistently held that states cannot prohibit their officials from sharing immigration status information with federal authorities, and that blocking ICE detainers creates a direct constitutional conflict.
New Jersey's acting Attorney General called Bondi's lawsuit "a pointless legal challenge." She should look up how that argument has played out for the dozen other Democratic cities currently losing this same fight in federal court.
Sherrill was sworn in just five weeks ago. She's already facing a federal lawsuit the DOJ is historically favored to win.
New Jersey residents convicted of aggravated assault and drug trafficking are about to find out whether their governor's executive order is worth the paper it's printed on.
Sources:
- Michael Dorgan, "DOJ sues New Jersey over executive order limiting ICE cooperation, expanding sanctuary status," Fox News, February 24, 2026.
- "Trump sues N.J. Gov. Mikie Sherill over new sanctuary policy," Washington Times, February 24, 2026.
- "NJ Democrats push 'F—ICE Act' to let residents sue over immigration enforcement," Fox News, February 23, 2026.
- "Sanctuary Jurisdictions: Legal Overview," Congress.gov/Library of Congress, 2025–2026.
- "Department of Justice sues New Jersey over sanctuary policies," The Center Square, February 24, 2026.