Newly sworn in, US Attorney General Pam Bondi is following President Donald Trump’s ambitious lead to get things done. Beginning on her first day, February 5, she set forth a number of directives, including pausing federal funding for sanctuary cities, dismantling the cartel once and for all, and fighting the weaponization of the legal system.
Bondi Orders Funds Withheld from Sanctuary Cities
In a memo detailing her first actions, Bondi said illegal immigration is out of control, “resulting in a substantial and unacceptable threat to our national security and public safety. To protect the American people from the efforts of unlawful mass migration, President Trump has prioritized securing our Nation’s borders and enforcing federal immigration law.” Therefore, “the Department of Justice will ensure that, consistent with law, ‘sanctuary jurisdictions’ do not receive access to Federal funds from the Department.”
President Trump tried this during his first term in the Oval Office but was blocked by lawsuits that weren’t resolved before Joe Biden was elected. What are the chances it will pass this go around? Blue states are pre-emptively fighting back, such as California, where Governor Gavin Newsom (D) has vowed to resist the commander-in-chief’s plans and announced a $25 million program to fund the state’s legal fights against the current administration.
However, Neama Rahmani, a former federal prosecutor for the Golden State, said the administration does have a certain amount of authority. “The federal government can withhold funds to force blue states to bend to their will,” he told the Washington Examiner. “That’s just the reality.”
Bondi has also directed the DOJ to identify and evaluate agreements with nongovernmental organizations that provide aid to illegal immigrants and to investigate instances where jurisdictions impede law enforcement, even suggesting they may be prosecuted, depending on the offense.
Taking Down the Cartels
Trump’s aggressive illegal immigration programs have hit the cartels hard, costing them billions of dollars. Not only has security been beefed up along the borders, but the president also designated Mexico’s crime syndicates as foreign terrorist organizations, making their business a lot riskier. As former DEA Senior Special Agent Michael Brown told Fox News, “Under the last four years of the Biden-Harris administration, nothing was done. The cartels were given carte blanche across the United States through the open-border system.”
Bondi has directed the Justice Department to work with the Department of Homeland Security to “completely eliminate” the threat of cartels and other criminal organizations. She wants to focus more on high-level criminals rather than chasing low-level offenders. As Fox News reported, “the Justice Department is expected to temporarily suspend some ‘bureaucratic approvals and reviews’ in order to prioritize speedy prosecutions and captures of those accused of severe offenses like capital crimes, terrorism or aiding the operations of cartels.”
To enhance her plans, Joint Task Force Alpha, which fights human trafficking, and Joint Task Force Vulcan, which was designed to destroy the MS-13 gang, would be “further empowered and elevated.” Additionally, Vulcan will be focused on taking down Tren de Aragua, the Venezuelan gang that has been accused of taking over apartment complexes in Colorado.
Finally, Bondi is directing the DOJ Office of Legal Policy to look for legislative means to go after equipment used to make drugs such as fentanyl pills as well as adding Xylazine, a new drug, to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act.
More First-Day Actions
Bondi wasn’t done yet. Aside from targeting illegal immigration and cartels, she also established a “Weaponization Working Group” to focus on the DOJ. “The reconciliation and restoration of the Department of Justice’s core values can only be accomplished through review and accountability,” she said. According to her memo, this new group would conduct reviews, like looking into special counsel Jack Smith’s prosecutions and his “improper investigative tactics and unethical prosecutions” related to the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021. She demanded "zealous advocacy" for Trump's agenda and warned that “[a]ny attorney who because of their personal political views or judgments declines to sign a brief or appear in court, refuses to advance good-faith arguments on behalf of the administration, or otherwise delays or impedes the Department’s mission will be subject to discipline and potentially termination, consistent with applicable law."
Another hot-button item on her list involved diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs. She directed the DOJ to confirm the termination of all DEI programs at the department by March 15. She has also demanded “the removal of all references to DEI in training programs – specifically ending the emphasis on race and sex-based criteria and refocusing hiring and promotion guidelines ‘solely on merit,’” Fox News explained.
Attorney General Pam Bondi hit the ground running on day one, and she's still moving at the speed of Trump. It's clear already the new AG will be a staunch advocate for President Trump's agenda, but can she keep up the pace?
