The Justice Department has directed prosecutors to investigate any state and local officials who may stand in the way of the Trump administration's efforts

U.S. attorneys’ offices were told to investigate any official who defies federal immigration enforcement efforts and consider prosecuting them.

A memo asserts that state and local officials are bound to cooperate and could face criminal prosecution or civil penalties if they fail to comply.

A top US Justice Department official installed by Donald Trump warned prosecutors that they must comply with the president’s hard-line immigration agenda and laid the groundwork for a clash with state and city officials who don’t cooperate with the administration’s crackdown.

The Justice Department is directing its federal prosecutors to investigate for potential criminal charges any state or local officials who stand in the way of beefed-up enforcement of immigration laws

The Trump administration's Department of Justice issued a memo Tuesday announcing a crackdown on the enforcement of federal immigration rules.

The message to all DOJ employees from new Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove lays out a “newly established Sanctuary Cities Enforcement Working Group.”

The directives to Justice Department employees could face fierce blowback from legal advocacy groups and officials in cities and states led by Democrats.

The Justice Department threatened in a new memo to prosecute local officials who refuse to help President Trump carry out his immigration agenda. The directive raised the possibility of clashes between the Trump administration and Democrats in so-called sanctuary cities and states.