The Justice Department filed lawsuits Wednesday against Maine, Massachusetts, Oregon, and Washington, alleging the states violated the Constitution by refusing to provide confidential license plates to federal law enforcement agencies while continuing to issue them to state and local law enforcement.
The lawsuits target state policies that the Department of Justice (DOJ) says deny “confidential license plates to federal agents,” including Department of Homeland Security (DHS) components such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), while allowing state and local law enforcement agencies to receive undercover plates.
DOJ said the lawsuits came after Maine, Massachusetts, Oregon, and Washington each “refused to rescind” the policies following a letter sent on May 12 from the department warning of their alleged illegality. The department described the policies as “unconstitutional” and said they “threaten the operational effectiveness and safety of federal agents” amid what it called “a wave of targeted harassment.”
The department also warned that without confidential plates, “dangerous individuals can track and evade law enforcement,” adding, “There is no justification for states to deny confidential license plates to federal agents.”
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said, “This Department of Justice will exercise any and all lawful authorities to support the brave men and women of law enforcement. Law enforcement officers risk their lives every day to keep Americans safe and must be able to carry out their duties effectively. By 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. These actions undermine federal immigration enforcement, allow dangerous criminals to escape justice, and terrorize American communities.”
Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate of the Justice Department’s Civil Division stated, “The Department of Justice will steadfastly protect the operational effectiveness and safety of law enforcement from these unconstitutional state policies.”
In his May 12 letter to Washington Attorney General Nick Brown, Shumate gave a more detailed account of the risks the DOJ says are created when federal vehicles can be identified through government plates or publicly exposed registration information.
Shumate wrote that federal officers investigate “drug trafficking, weapons trafficking, human trafficking, terrorism, and fraud,” and that those cases often require “covert surveillance and undercover activities.” He also said federal law enforcement duties include “locating missing children, apprehending fugitives,” safeguarding protected persons, and transporting dignitaries.
The letter warned that identifiable vehicles could put officers, their families, and people under federal protection all at risk. Shumate said officers could be “tracked to their homes,” while suspects could “flee, destroy evidence, or take countermeasures to avoid arrest.”
Shumate also contended the Washington policy ran afoul of the Supremacy Clause because the state was treating DHS components differently from “similarly-situated state and local law enforcement agencies.” He asked Washington to return to issuing undercover plates to federal law enforcement agencies, “including but not limited to” Homeland Security Investigations, ICE, and Customs and Border Protection, “on equal terms” with state and local law enforcement.
The DOJ said the four lawsuits are “the latest in a series of lawsuits” brought by the Civil Division targeting policies it says “thwart federal law enforcement across the country.”