The insurrection continues apace. California officials, including Nancy Pelosi, have threatened to arrest and criminally prosecute ICE agents who allegedly violate California law. Pelosi and Congressman Kevin Mullin issued this press release on Wednesday:
Reports of a planned mass immigration raid in the Bay Area are an appalling abuse of law enforcement power. Broad sweeps that target families and terrorize law-abiding residents betray our nation’s values and waste resources that should focus on real threats to public safety.
It is important to note that California law protects communities and prevents federal agents from taking certain actions here that we have witnessed in other states. While the President may enjoy absolute immunity courtesy of his rogue Supreme Court, those who operate under his orders do not. Our state and local authorities may arrest federal agents if they break California law — and if they are convicted, the President cannot pardon them.
The people of San Francisco will continue to stand with the patriotic immigrants who are the constant reinvigoration of America. We will not be intimidated by politically motivated fear tactics.
This statement can charitably be described as disgraceful. What are the “certain actions” that federal agents have taken elsewhere that supposedly would be illegal in California, and under what California laws? Pelosi isn’t saying. The reference to “his rogue Supreme Court” is outrageous, as is the threat that convictions under state law would be beyond presidential pardon.
Yesterday, the Department of Justice fired back:
The Justice Department on Thursday warned California officials, including Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), against engaging in an “apparent criminal conspiracy” to arrest Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche issued the letter to Pelosi, Gov. Gavin Newsom, state Attorney General Rob Bonta and San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins after the former House speaker suggested Wednesday that local police could arrest ICE agents if they violate state laws while carrying out immigration enforcement operations.
“Rather than supporting and working with federal law enforcement professionals, California politicians, including U.S. Representative Nancy Pelosi and San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins, have instead called for state and local law enforcement officials to ‘arrest’ federal agents and officers for enforcing federal laws enacted by the U.S. Congress, including federal immigration laws,” Blanche wrote in his missive.
“The Department of Justice views any arrests of federal agents and officers in the performance of their official duties as both illegal and futile,” he added. “Numerous federal laws prohibit interfering with and impeding immigration or other law-enforcement operations.”
Blanche said the DOJ would “investigate and prosecute any state or local official” who flouts federal statutes or directs or conspires with others to violate them.
The prospect of arrests and counter-arrests is disheartening, to say the least. What is going on here is not a legitimate state-based concern about specific actions of law enforcement, but rather an unconstitutional obstruction of the enforcement of federal immigration laws. Under the Supremacy Clause, federal law takes precedence over state law. The states have no ability to nullify immigration law, and any attempt to obstruct the execution of federal law would be, as Assistant Attorney General Blanche wrote, a crime.
The Democrats are becoming ever more insurrectionist, with consequences that are impossible to foresee, but are likely to be catastrophic.
