Alina Habba, recently named acting U.S. attorney of New Jersey, has opened a probe into Governor Phil Murphy and Attorney General Matt Platkin over a memo instructing state police to ignore over 27,000 immigration warrants that were recently added to a federal database.
President Donald Trump’s former adviser and lawyer announced the investigation on national television Thursday night, warning all New Jersey leaders they will be held accountable if they hinder the administration’s mission to arrest and deport illegal immigrants residing in the blue state.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and Trump both “made it clear . . . that we are to take all…criminals out of this country and to completely enforce federal law,” Habba told Fox News host Sean Hannity. “And anybody who does get in the way of what we are doing — which is not political, it is simply against crime — will be charged in the state of New Jersey for obstruction, for concealment, and I will come after them hard.”
Habba’s statement came in response to a report revealing that Murphy and Platkin ordered state troopers to refrain from pursuing tens of thousands of new immigration warrants in the FBI’s National Crime Information Center. In fact, New Jersey police were instructed not to contact U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“These Administrative Warrant messages appear in NCIC in a method that ALL members are to note they are NOT to be broadcast as ‘NCIC Hits,'” the memo, written by New Jersey State Police Colonel Patrick Callahan, states. “NJDSP members are NOT permitted to contact ICE via the phone numbers provided.”
The order aligns with New Jersey’s Immigrant Trust Directive, which limits the involvement that state and local authorities can have in federal immigration enforcement. The directive, which was issued by former Attorney General Gurbir Grewal in 2018, was said to build trust between law enforcement and immigrants.
While state and local police are not equal to federal agents in their immigration enforcement capabilities, they can still notify ICE about immigration warrants or immigration-related investigations.
Habba says she will tolerate any New Jersey Democrat who doesn’t cooperate with immigration agents, including Paterson Mayor André Sayegh.
“If anybody wants to use politics or their position to go and violate any federal law or any executive order in this state, and that includes sanctuary cities, and I’m looking at you, Paterson, N.J.,” she warned. “I will be investigating you, and if you did commit a crime, if you ordered obstruction, if you are ordering concealment and harboring, you will be charged.”
Sayegh has been sympathetic toward illegal immigrants living in his city, addressing the onset of ICE raids in late January after Trump took office.
Following Habba’s announcement of the probe, Murphy defended his state’s immigration policies and claimed state and local law enforcement cooperate with federal authorities.
“If you’re a criminal in New Jersey we’re coming after you,” he said during a Friday appearance on the MeidasTouch Podcast. “Law enforcement in New Jersey is obsessed with bringing justice on crimes and against criminals. We’re not in the immigration business. If we need to work with the authorities, federal immigration authorities, we absolutely do.”
Platkin also responded to the probe on Friday, snidely remarking, “I don’t typically launch investigations on cable news networks.”
Meanwhile, the leading Republican candidates for governor of New Jersey — Jack Ciattarelli and Bill Spadea — both praised the start of Habba’s investigation on social media. They are campaigning on ending the blue state’s sanctuary policies ahead of the gubernatorial election slated for November this year.
In February, Murphy implied he and his wife, Tammy, were harboring an illegal alien above their garage. He then taunted federal immigration authorities, wishing them “good luck” in trying to apprehend her.
After Murphy’s comments made headlines, Trump’s border czar Tom Homan said he or Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem will consider prosecuting the governor if he is actually keeping an illegal immigrant in his home. No charges have been brought against Murphy since Homan issued the threat.