New Jersey’s Acting U.S. Attorney Alina Habba says she’s instructed her office to look into Gov. Phil Murphy and Attorney General Matthew Platkin.
Habba made the announcement Thursday night, saying Murphy and Platkin have refrained from assisting federal immigration enforcement in New Jersey.
New Jersey’s Immigrant Trust Directive limits local agencies from assisting Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“I want it to be a warning for everybody”
“I want it to be a warning for everybody that I have instructed my office today to open an investigation into Governor Murphy, to open an investigation into Attorney General Platkin,” Habba said.
Platkin defended the policy Friday, saying it has already been upheld in court.
“I’m going to keep doing my job. I know the brave men, men and women of law enforcement in our state who do extraordinary work every day, will keep doing their jobs,” Platkin said.
Murphy’s administration has been largely supportive of immigration. Under his tenure, Platkin’s predecessor issued a guideline limiting cooperation between local New Jersey police and immigration officials. A bill that would make the directive state law is pending in the Legislature, but hasn’t advanced.
The policy and the pending bill have gotten renewed attention since Trump’s second administration began and immigration officials arrested people in Newark soon after the inauguration. The arrests led immigrant rights advocates to call out “Where’s Governor Murphy?” during a news conference held by Newark’s mayor to deride the immigration enforcement.
Habba took over the interim post from John Giordano, whom the president named to be the U.S. ambassador for the southwestern African country of Namibia.
A partner in a small New Jersey law firm near Trump’s Bedminster golf course, Habba served as a senior adviser for Trump’s political action committee, defended him in court in several civil lawsuits and acted as a spokesperson last year as he volleyed between courtrooms and the campaign trail.
