Attorney General Pam Bondi issued a sweeping memo filled with new Justice Department directives immediately after being sworn in Tuesday evening that included cutting off funds to “sanctuary” jurisdictions that shield illegal immigrants from federal authorities.
Bondi has been a strong critic of sanctuary cities, particularly those led by Democrats, which refuse to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement. She has argued in the past that these policies undermine law enforcement and national security.
A longtime advocate for stricter border security measures, Bondi aligns with the Trump administration’s position on illegal immigration.
Bondi, in her memo, also directed the DOJ to identify and reassess all funding agreements with nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that assist illegal immigrants, Fox News first reported, among other wide-ranging directives.
The memo includes a directive regarding “zealous advocacy,” where the new AG noted that the responsibility of DOJ attorneys includes “aggressively enforcing criminal laws passed by Congress, but also vigorously defending presidential policies and actions on behalf of the United States against legal challenges.”
“The discretion afforded Justice Department attorneys with respect to those responsibilities does not include latitude to substitute their personal political views or judgments for those that prevailed in the election,” the memo says, per Fox.
“When Justice Department attorneys refuse to faithfully carry out their role by, for example, refusing to advance good-faith arguments or declining to sign briefs, it undermines the constitutional order and deprives the President of the benefit of his lawyers,” the memo added.
The memo also states that “any Justice Department attorney who declines to sign a brief, refuses to advance good-faith arguments on behalf of the Trump administration, or otherwise delays or impedes the Justice Department’s mission will be subject to discipline and potentially termination.”
Bondi is preparing to launch the “Weaponization Working Group,” which will examine the actions of all law enforcement agencies over the past four years to identify instances of “politicized justice.” The group’s initial reviews will focus on prosecutions against Trump led by former Special Counsel Jack Smith, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, and New York Attorney General Letitia James, who filed the civil fraud case against Trump and his family.
The working group will also investigate potential prosecutorial abuses related to the January 6, 2021 events, the FBI’s targeting of Catholic Americans, the Justice Department’s actions against parents at school board meetings, and violations of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, according to Fox.
Bondi is also lifting the moratorium on federal executions and instructing federal prosecutors at the DOJ, including U.S. attorneys’ offices, to pursue the death penalty when appropriate. The focus will be particularly on violent drug trafficking crimes.
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Bondi also ordered that the Justice Department “re-evaluate instances of the prior administration electing not to seek the death penalty.” The former Florida attorney general is also expected to ditch any current DOJ policies that are “not sufficiently in line with President Trump’s death penalty executive order.”
In December 2024, President Biden commuted the sentences of 37 of the 40 criminals on federal death row, individuals whom President Donald Trump had described in his executive order on the death penalty as the “most vile and sadistic rapists, child molesters, and murderers on Federal death row.”
Bondi stated that she is now directing the DOJ to pursue justice for the families of the victims of the 37 murderers whose death sentences were commuted.
Regarding cartels, Bondi is instructing the Justice Department to collaborate closely with the Department of Homeland Security and other federal agencies to “completely eliminate” the threats posed by them and other transnational criminal organizations.
Bondi intends to reshape charging priorities in these cases to ensure law enforcement resources are focused on dismantling the core operational structure of cartels, rather than simply targeting low-level offenders.
The DOJ is expected to temporarily halt certain “bureaucratic approvals and reviews” in order to prioritize the swift prosecution and capture of individuals accused of serious offenses, such as capital crimes, terrorism, or aiding cartel operations, Fox added.
