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 Judge tosses DOJ lawsuit against 4 New Jersey ‘sanctuary cities’
The challenged policies have already been upheld as part of the statewide Immigrant Trust Directive, a federal judge finds
06/24/2026 06:52 PM EDT
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The Department of Justice lacks the standing to challenge “sanctuary” immigration policies in four New Jersey cities, a federal judge ruled on Wednesday, handing the Trump administration a striking setback after more than a year of litigation.

In May 2025, the DOJ sued Newark, Jersey City, Paterson, and Hoboken, alleging that their policies curtailing local cooperation with federal immigration authorities ran afoul of the Constitution. The four municipalities’ policies represented “a frontal assault on the federal immigration laws and the federal authorities that administer them,” the lawsuit argued.

But District Judge Evelyn Padin, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, ruled that the Trump administration does not have the grounds to sue the four cities at all — in large part because their policies are nearly identical to the statewide Immigrant Trust Directive, which has been previously upheld in court multiple times.