Judge Dismisses DOJ Suit Against Four NJ Sanctuary Cities

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit brought by the Department of Justice against four New Jersey cities over their immigration enforcement policies. U.S. District Judge Evelyn Padin dismissed the case on Wednesday, June 24, 2026, ruling the federal government lacked the legal standing to sue.

The Justice Department filed the lawsuit in May 2025 against the cities of Newark, Jersey City, Paterson, and Hoboken. The suit alleged the cities’ so-called sanctuary policies unlawfully obstructed federal immigration enforcement. Specifically, the complaint argued the cities denied federal agents access to immigrants in local custody, restricted local officers from transferring individuals to immigration authorities, and barred officers from voluntarily sharing information with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

In her ruling, Judge Padin found a fundamental flaw in the federal government’s case. She determined that the cities’ local ordinances operate under New Jersey’s statewide Immigrant Trust Directive, a policy first issued in 2018 that generally limits local police cooperation with federal immigration enforcement in civil matters. Because the lawsuit challenged only the...