Exclusive | How Trumps DOJ is forcing sanctuary city authorities to help with immigration crackdown
The Justice Department has found a workaround to bypass sanctuary city laws and force local authorities to help with President Trump’s deportation crackdown — charge illegal migrants with federal crimes for entering the US illegally.The Department of Justice and Immigration and Customs Enforcement have been working “around the clock” to slap as many migrants as they can, sources tell The Post.So far, more than 15,000 such cases have been filed since President Trump’s inauguration, according to the DOJ.The criminal charges escalate the cases from a civil immigration issue to a federal criminal one — allowing ICE agents to enter jails of sanctuary jurisdictions like New York City to pick up illegal migrants.A DOJ source told The Post the new administration has been “pushing” US attorneys “to get creative” on the warrants “since day one” and to push them “in sanctuary jurisdictions” that pose “significant risks to public safety.”It’s not clear whether the tactic has been deployed in New York City, but the US Attorney offices in other parts of New York state are already using it.Targets of the effort include Guatemalan citizen Wilson Oswaldo Galvan-Lope, 25, who was charged by the US Attorney in the Western District of New York last month with illegal reentry, after he entered the country illegally and ended up in Rochester after getting deported once before.Two others, Israel De La Cruz San Juan, 29, and Candido De La Cruz San Juan, 34, both of whom hail from Mexico, were collared last month and hit with the same charges after they were stopped in Tonawanda, New York, driving a truck full of construction equipment with expired registration.Israel was originally deported in 2017, while Candido was kicked out in both 2012 and 2013.Their charges carry a maximum sentence of up to two years in prison and a $250,000 fine.Such federal criminal warrants are almost universally recognized, allowing ICE agents to enter jails without violating lo...