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WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Justice Department on Thursday ordered federal prosecutors to prioritize criminal prosecution of protesters who destroy property or assault law enforcement, and to make sure every case they bring gets publicized, according to an internal email seen by Reuters.
The email, which was sent to all 93 U.S. Attorneys, comes a week into a wave of protests that started in Los Angeles and have spread to other major cities against President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. Trump has dispatched some 700 U.S. Marines and 4,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles, saying they are needed to back up immigration raids.
“There should be no bottleneck of referrals for complaints and legal process,” wrote Associate Deputy Attorney General Aakash Singh.
“Push out press releases whenever you file charges in these matters,” he said. “We will not stop enforcing the law and we will not be deterred from keeping our districts safe.”
U.S. Attorneys prosecute a wide range of federal crimes, ranging from drug trafficking to white collar crimes, and some of the busiest offices can bring hundreds of cases per year, though the volume varies widely. Lower level cases are not as frequently publicized in press releases.
Democrats — particularly California Governor Gavin Newsom — have accused the Trump administration of escalating the tensions by sending in troops that local officials have not called for, comparing his actions to that of an authoritarian regime.
Street protests have since broken out in U.S. cities across the country in response to the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, including New York, Chicago, Washington and San Antonio, Texas.
“As we’ve said repeatedly, the Department respects the right to peacefully protest & assemble to engage on important issues,” a DOJ spokesman said in a statement. “However, the Department and its 94 US Attorney Offices will not tolerate unlawful violence & destruction of property. We are prepared to respond accordingly.”
On Wednesday, two Los Angeles men who were participating in protests were charged by federal prosecutors with possessing Molotov cocktails, while several others were charged with assaulting a federal officer.
The FBI said this week it was setting up a tip line to collect “evidence of violence associated with opposition to immigration enforcement” and published images of a Compton, California, man whom it alleged is a fugitive from justice who assaulted a federal officer.
On Thursday, the Trump-appointed U.S. Attorney in Los Angeles said on X that his office has charged another protester with conspiracy to commit civil disorders, after the man allegedly distributed face shields to “suspected rioters.”
In his email, Singh told prosecutors that having merely one or two assistant U.S. attorneys on standby to handle such cases is “insufficient,” and that all employees from both the U.S. Attorneys’ offices and the Criminal Division “should be on standby.”
(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; Editing by Scott Malone and Bill Berkrot)
