Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove issued the directive Tuesday night in a department-wide memo, obtained by the Washington Examiner, and outlined other immediate policy changes designed to crack down on illegal immigration.

“These interim changes are necessary as an initial response to Executive Orders that President Trump issued yesterday, critical to the Justice Department’s mission, and part of the response to three of the most serious threats facing the American people,” Bove wrote.

The three threats, Bove said, were cartels and other transnational criminal organizations, crime by illegal immigrants, and the opioid epidemic.

“The Justice Department must, and will, work to eradicate these threats,” Bove wrote.

The memo comes after Trump took executive action on his first day in office to protect the country against what he described as an “invasion” at the border. In an executive order, he instructed agencies to take sweeping steps to enforce immigration laws against “all inadmissible and removable aliens.” Mass deportations were one of Trump’s signature campaign promises and came amid an influx of migrants crossing illegally into the country during the Biden administration.

Bove said state and local jurisdictions that did not comply with Trump’s immigration plans would violate the supremacy clause of the Constitution or certain federal statutes, setting the stage for renewed fights with jurisdictions that refuse to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, often referred to as “sanctuary cities.”

“The U.S. Attorney’s Offices and litigating components of the Department of Justice shall investigate incidents involving any such misconduct for potential prosecution, including for obstructing federal functions,” Bove wrote, citing Title 18’s section 371 and Title 8’s sections 1324 and 1373.

He also directed the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Forces to coordinate with the Department of Homeland Security on immigration enforcement and instructed the bureau and other agencies housed under the DOJ to conduct a review in the next 60 days of all data they had about noncitizens living in the country illegally. The review would aid the DHS with deportations, Bove said.

“All such information and data shall be disclosed to DHS, for the sole purpose of facilitating appropriate removals, enforcement actions, and immigration-related investigations and prosecutions, unless the agency possessing the information and data determines that a particular disclosure would compromise a significant law enforcement investigation and the U.S. Attorney’s Office participating in the investigation concurs in writing with the agency’s non-disclosure determination,” Bove wrote.

Lastly, Bove reinstated a sentencing memorandum, issued by Trump on May 10, 2017, that directed prosecutors to prioritize the “most serious, readily provable” crimes. The Biden administration rescinded the guidance in 2021.

Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) is among several leaders of blue states and cities that have vowed to resist Trump’s deportation plans. In December 2024, Newsom announced an “immigrant support network” and a $25 million initiative to fund California’s legal fights against the Trump administration.