A senior official at the Department of Justice submitted his resignation after being ordered by the Trump administration to target sanctuary cities. 

Corey Amundson spent more than two decades at the DOJ, rising to become the head of the department’s public integrity section. After the Trump administration came into power last week, he was directed to sit on the newly created Sanctuary Cities Enforcement Working Group, a task force focused on taking legal action against sanctuary cities. Amundson was one of an estimated 20 senior career DOJ attorneys who were going to be reassigned by the new White House.  

“I spent my entire professional life committed to the apolitical enforcement of federal criminal law and to ensuring that those around me understood and embraced that central tenet of our work,” he wrote in his resignation letter obtained by the New York Times. “I am proud of my service and wish you the best in seeking justice on behalf of the American people.”

In his letter to acting Attorney General James McHenry, Amundson added that he wished the department well as it pursued Trump’s agenda.

“I wish you and the Department’s leadership every success in the coming years as you work to pursue the President’s criminal enforcement agenda, including to protect all Americans from the scourge of violent crime and public corruption,” he said.

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Amundson’s departure from the federal agency comes after the Trump administration has vowed to deport illegal immigrants harbored by sanctuary cities, jurisdictions that do not enforce federal immigration law. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s agents have already made a series of arrests in sanctuary cities across the country, including Denver, New York City, and Chicago.

The Washington Examiner reached out to the DOJ for comment.