(filed February 23, 2026)
U.S. v. State of New Jersey - The Trump Administration sued the State of New Jersey for its Executive Order No. 12 issued February 11, 2026, which further implemented New Jersey’s Safe Communities Act law that was passed January 20, 2026. The Executive Order prohibits federal immigration officers from using nonpublic areas of state-owned property and from using them as a staging area, processing location, or operations base to enforce civil immigration law without a judicial warrant. Additionally, the government alleges Governor Sherill’s press release regarding the Executive Order encourages citizens to monitor the activities of ICE. On May 8, 2026, the state of New Jersey filed a motion to dismiss. On September 4, 2026, the federal court granted the state’s motion to dismiss with prejudice. The court held the government had standing to challenge New Jersey Executive Order No. 12. However, it held 8 USC §§ 1373 and 1644 could not serve as a basis for preemption because Executive Order No. 12 does not concern information sharing and, under binding Third Circuit precedent (Ocean Cnty. Bd. of Comm’rs v. Att’y Gen. of N.J., 8 F. 4th 176, 181 (3d Cir. 2021), those provisions do not regulate private actors and therefore cannot preempt state law. Additionally, the court held there was no conflict preemption because federal immigration law contemplates voluntary state cooperation, reasoning that to hold otherwise would conflict with the anti-commandeering doctrine. The court also rejected the government’s argument that Executive Order No. 12 directly regulated the federal government, reasoning that New Jersey was acting as a proprietor controlling the use of its own property and that the order did not substantially interfere with immigration enforcement because the government retained other locations and methods of enforcement. Lastly, the court rejected the government’s discrimination claim because state and local officers were not similarly situated comparators to federal immigration officials, since only the federal government is authorized to enforce immigration laws. The government may appeal the decision.