U.S. Attorney Launches Investigation Into Top NJ Officials

NEW JERSEY — New Jersey's top federal prosecutor says she has launched an investigation into Gov. Phil Murphy and Attorney General Matt Platkin over a directive for local and state police not to cooperate with federal agents conducting immigration enforcement.

Alina Habba, who was appointed last month by President Donald Trump as the interim U.S. attorney for New Jersey, announced the investigation Thursday evening during an appearance on Fox News.

“I want it to be a warning for everybody that I have instructed my office today to open an investigation into Governor Murphy, to open an investigation into Attorney General Platkin,” she told Sean Hannity.

"I will come after them hard," Habba continued. "The investigation starts immediately."

Murphy’s administration has been largely supportive of immigration. Under his tenure, former AG Gurbir Grewal issued the "Immigrant Trust Directive," which limits cooperation between New Jersey law enforcement and immigration officials.

A bill that would make the directive state law is pending in the Legislature, but hasn’t advanced.

Both Murphy’s office and Platkin’s office did not immediately respond to Patch's request for comment on Friday morning, though Platkin did comment during an unrelated press conference.

"The Immigrant Trust Directive is settled law, it's been upheld by judges appointed by President Trump," he told reporters, adding: "I don't typically launch investigations on cable news networks."

Platkin said he has reached out "in multiple ways" to Habba, but she "has not wanted to have a conversation."

The New Jersey Monitor obtained a copy of a memo that the New Jersey State Police Superintendent sent to police personnel last month, after the federal government added another 27,000 outstanding administrative warrants of removal to the National Crime Information Center.

The memo from Col. Patrick Callahan notes that the Immigrant Trust Directive outlines a difference between an administrative warrant (which is issued by a federal agency like U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement), and a judicial warrant (which is signed by a judge).

“Taking law enforcement action by arresting a subject based solely on an ‘Outstanding Administrative Warrant’ would violate the Attorney General’s Immigrant Trust Directive referenced above,” Callahan wrote in the memo.

As the Monitor reported, Callahan's memo also notes that the Immigrant Trust Directive prohibits police from arresting people solely based on their immigration status, and from sharing personal information with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The directive also differentiates between civil and criminal investigations.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.