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President Donald Trump’s administration is suing four states over their refusal to issue undercover license plates to federal agents, the latest front in the wider struggle between the White House and Democratic-led states over the Republican president\u2019s immigration crackdown<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Department of Justice alleges in separate lawsuits filed Wednesday that Maine<\/a>, Massachusetts<\/a>, Oregon, and Washington state<\/a> are imposing unconstitutional restrictions that it says impede law enforcement and threaten agents\u2019 safety.<\/p>\n \u201cBy denying undercover license plates to DHS components, including ICE, while issuing them to their own state agencies, these governors are pursuing discriminatory and obstructionist policies against federal law enforcement,\u201d said acting Attorney General Todd Blanche in a statement. <\/p>\n \u201cThese actions undermine federal immigration enforcement, allow dangerous criminals to escape justice, and terrorize American communities,\u201d Blanche added. <\/p>\n The Justice Department filed individual suits in U.S. district courts in the respective states. The four state governments are accused of trying \u201cto obstruct the Federal Government\u2019s immigration enforcement efforts, even though control over immigration and the nation\u2019s borders is an exclusive federal power.\u201d<\/p>\n Specifically, the Justice Department argues in the suits that the U.S. Constitution’s Supremacy Clause bars state governments from regulating federal law enforcement. The department previously sent letters asking state officials to justify their policies.<\/p>\n The states did not immediately respond on Wednesday. <\/p>\n The administration asserts that federal agents \u201cfrequently investigate and apprehend violent criminals including cartel members, gang members, sex offenders, human traffickers, and other violent offenders\u201d and says making those authorities easily identifiable subjects them to increased harassment and potential physical harm.<\/p>\n Those arguments are similar to the administration\u2019s defense of federal agents wearing masks on their deployments to American cities. That became a flashpoint in an extended government shutdown over Department of Homeland Security funding, as Democrats on Capitol Hill demanded key changes to how Trump’s mass deportation plans were carried out after masked federal agents killed two U.S. citizen protesters in Minnesota. <\/p>\n The White House and DHS have maintained the agency’s mask policy, and the administration already has won a federal court order blocking a California law that barred law enforcement officials from covering their faces in the state. <\/p>\n Additionally, the administration has been at odds with so-called sanctuary cities where local law enforcement does not assist federal authorities with immigration enforcement. And Blanche has\u202finstructed\u202fthe Justice Department\u2019s Civil Division to identify all state and local laws, policies, and practices that could impede what the administration describes as \u201clawful federal operations.\u201d<\/p>\n ___ <\/p>\n Barrow reported from Atlanta. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n