TOMS RIVER – Gov. Phil Murphy and state Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal are trying to turn New Jersey into “a sanctuary state,” Freeholder Jack Kelly said as he announced that Ocean County had filed a federal lawsuit against the administration. See a copy of the suit below.

The litigation, filed Wednesday, is over the “Immigrant Trust Directive,” which Grewal announced last November and which is now in effect statewide.

Under the policy — which carries the weight of law — local, county and state law enforcement officers must not stop, search or detain immigrants at the request of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, except in cases of serious or violent crimes, or final deportation orders. The directive is intended to improve trust between communities of immigrants and police in New Jersey, but it’s also a rebuke of President Donald Trump’s controversial rhetoric about illegal immigration.

The directive has compelled Ocean County Jail officials to reduce their cooperation with federal immigration authorities, rather than face potential prosecution by the Murphy administration. The new policy has incensed Kelly and other freeholders on the five-member, all-Republican board, who preside over a county where Trump won more than 65 percent of the votes cast for president in 2016. To be sure, the county delivered more votes for Trump than any other in New Jersey, even though Hillary Clinton ultimately won the state’s 14 electoral votes.

“The attorney general is following the political will of the governor, in order to make New Jersey a sanctuary state,” Kelly said in his public remarks Wednesday evening from the dais of the freeholder board. “That is a political position.”

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Ocean County was committed to cooperating with law enforcement at every level of government, said Kelly, who is director of law and public safety on the board.

“However, we are not going to violate state law,” he said. “So, the way we’re moving forward is by filing this complaint in federal court because we believe it is an issue that is bigger than Ocean County and that ought to be heard in federal court because — as I say — it’s in direct conflict with federal law. So, today, we did file that complaint.”

Leland Moore, a spokesperson for the state Attorney General’s Office, reiterated previous statements that the Immigrant Trust Directive is within Grewal’s powers.

“While we’re not going to comment on the specifics of this particular lawsuit, as we’ve said before, the (New Jersey) Criminal Justice Act of 1970 grants the attorney general broad authority to establish statewide law enforcement policies, including policies that promote police-community trust and encourage victims and witnesses to cooperate with law enforcement,” Moore said.

As the office previously stated, the attorney general’s authority — which has been used by prior attorney generals across gubernatorial administrations — extends to all 36,000 law enforcement officers in New Jersey, whether they work at New Jersey State Police, a local police department, or a county sheriff’s office, Moore said.

The Immigrant Trust Directive does not provide “sanctuary” to individuals who commit crimes in New Jersey; it provides assurances to victims and witnesses of crimes that they can go to state and local law enforcement officers in New Jersey without fear of deportation, Moore explained.

The 13-page lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Trenton and is comprised of three counts alleging violations of the United States and New Jersey constitutions, as well as federal and state laws.

The suit also cites statistical data from the Ocean County Department of Corrections, which reports that 17.7 % of foreign-born inmates at the jail were subject to immigration detainers upon their release from the county jail between Jan. 1, 2017 and July 31, 2019.

An immigration detainer or immigration hold is a notification from ICE to state, county and local law enforcement agencies that a suspect in their custody is also wanted by ICE for a deportation or a deportation hearing.

More:Ocean County Board of Freeholders Discuss Legality Of NJ's “Immigrant Trust Directive”

More:How Ocean County decided to sue NJ over immigration policy: the inside story

In count one, the suit claims that the U.S. Constitution’s supremacy clause prevents states from acting in a manner that impedes or frustrates federal laws and regulations.

“The historic police powers of the state do not supersede the federal government’s preemptive authority over matters involving immigration and naturalization,” the suit argues.

In count two, the litigation makes the case that the New Jersey attorney general is in violation of the state constitution, which gives counties and local governments broad discretion to manage their own affairs — referred to in the suit as the “home rule doctrine.”

Moreover, citing an 1887 New Jersey law, the county quotes: “It shall be lawful for the board of chosen freeholders of any county in this state to assume and thereafter to exercise the custody, rule, keeping and charge of the county jails in their respective counties, and of the prisoners therein, whenever any such board shall decide, by the affirmative votes of two-thirds of all its members, so to do, and shall file a certificate of such decision attested by the director and the clerk of such board, in the office of the secretary of state.”

In count three, the county argues that the state attorney general does not have the constitutional, statutory and common law powers to control how a county jail shares information with other law enforcement agencies.

“The directive’s declared source of legal authority directly conflicts with the New Jersey Legislature’s expressed intent to vest power and authority in county governments to control county jails and the sharing of inmate information,” according to the suit.

“Even though the New Jersey Legislature could have empowered the attorney general under this statutory scheme, the Legislature deliberately and clearly chose to empower county governments to control county jails subject to the rules and regulations promulgated by the commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Corrections, which has recognized the authority of county government to share, if it so decides, inmate information with other law enforcement agencies,” the suit reads.

“The attorney general’s directive is arbitrary, capricious and unreasonable and thus constitutes an abuse of discretion as applied to plaintiffs” it continues.

The freeholder board wants the federal judiciary to declare the Immigrant Trust Directive as “unconstitutional, invalid and unenforceable and for such other relief as the court deems just and equitable,” the suit concludes.

Ocean County General Counsel John C. Sahradnik and Associate Counsel Christopher A. Khatami are representing the county government in the matter.

Erik Larsen has covered politics, crime and unusual events at the Jersey Shore for more than 20 years. Contact him at 732-682-9359, elarsen@gannettnj.com or on Twitter at @Erik_Larsen.