N.J. Gov. Murphy and A.G. Platkin under investigation for allegedly not cooperating with Trump's immigration crackdown

Robert Moran, The Philadelphia Inquirer on Apr 11, 2025

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New Jersey acting U.S. Attorney Alina Habba has ordered an investigation of Gov. Phil Murphy and state Attorney General Matthew Platkin for allegedly refusing to cooperate with President Donald Trump’s ongoing federal immigration crackdown.

Habba announced the investigation on Fox News host Sean Hannity’s show Thursday night.

“I am unfortunately going to announce on your show tonight, Sean, and 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, who has also instructed the state police not to assist” with federal authorities seeking to apprehend people for deportation, Habba told Hannity.

U.S. Attorney General “Pam Bondi has made it clear, and so has our president, that we are to take all ... violent criminals and criminals out of this country and to completely enforce federal law,” said Habba, a former defense attorney for Trump and most recently a White House adviser.

“And anybody who does get in that way, in the way of what we are doing, which is not political, it is simply against crime, will be charged in the state of New Jersey for obstruction, for concealment, and I will come after them hard. Those investigations will start immediately,” Habba said.

Murphy, appearing Friday on the MeidasTouch podcast, joked: “For whatever reason, I missed my normal Sean Hannity show last night.” However, he said, he had read about Habba’s announcement.

Murphy defended his administration’s policies and said that law enforcement in New Jersey cooperates with federal authorities against anyone who commits serious crimes.

“We go after criminals hard, period, full stop, regardless of their immigration status,” Murphy said.

“What we don’t do is we don’t go after somebody for jaywalking or where there’s no probable cause of a crime, and we’re very clear about that,” Murphy said.

He added that “we cooperate regularly, frankly daily, with federal authorities” on cases involving immigration issues.

At an unrelated news conference Friday, Politico reported, Platkin said that New Jersey’s 2018 directive is “settled law” and has been upheld by judges appointed by Trump during his first term.

“I’m focused on doing my job, which is to keep the residents of our state safe,” Platkin said.

On her personal X account, Habba reposted on Tuesday a news report about the Murphy administration and a memo from State Police Superintendent Patrick Callahan regarding the Trump administration’s addition of 27,000 “Outstanding Administrative Warrants for Removal from the United States” to the FBI’s National Crime Information Center, or NCIC, database. It is used nationwide by law enforcement.

The memo reportedly emphasized an existing 2018 state directive prohibiting state, county, or local law enforcement from using resources to assist federal immigration enforcement unless a valid judicial warrant is issued, and that “administrative warrants” — issued directly by a government agency, not by a judge — do not qualify.

According to the New Jersey web page for the 2018 directive, the prohibition ensures “that victims and witnesses feel safe reporting crimes to local police without fear of deportation.”

The state description later states: “Nothing in the Directive restricts officers from complying with federal law. Nothing prevents officers from enforcing valid court orders, including warrants signed by state or federal judges. And nothing provides ‘sanctuary’ to those who commit crimes in New Jersey. If you break the law — if you assault someone, if you rob someone, if you defraud someone — you will still go to jail, no matter your immigration status."

In her Tuesday repost of the news report, Habba wrote, referencing Trump’s policy: “Let me be clear: Executive Orders will be followed and enforced in the State of New Jersey.”

Right after Trump was inaugurated in January, the Department of Justice ordered federal prosecutors to investigate state and local officials for any alleged interference with the president’s crackdown on immigration.

Habba was appointed interim U.S. attorney for New Jersey late last month by Trump.

In comments after the Justice Department order was publicized in January, Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner said that his office would not comply with any immigration orders from Trump’s administration that might cause his staff to break the law.

“There are public officials all over the country who are rightly concerned that (Trump’s) actions around immigration are not only immoral, they may also stray into areas that are illegal,” Krasner said.