'Shockwaves': Expert flags 'extraordinary' piece of DOJ threat to officials who defy Trump

A three-page Justice Department memo that began circulating Wednesday as part of President Donald Trump’s new immigration agenda stunned CNN legal analyst Elie Honig, who called it a “very heavy-handed” approach to law enforcement.

“This memo has sent shockwaves through the legal and political world,” Honig, a former state and federal prosecutor, said Wednesday night on CNN’s “NewsNight.”

The memo, authored by Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove, gives federal prosecutors across the country the green light to investigate local officials for obstructing immigration enforcement efforts, according to media reports.

"Technically speaking” that can legally happen, said Honig. He reiterated how “extraordinary” it was “for DOJ to actually threaten locals with prosecution.”

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“Part of it is completely normal,” Honig said. “Part of it is the new administration doing what all new administrations [do], saying we are going to prioritize this type of crime – sometimes it's financial crime, public corruption, here, it's immigration – that part's normal.”

He added that “the part that's extraordinary, though, is that the Justice Department says, ‘Hey, local, state and local authorities…if you get in our way, if you obstruct what we're doing, we might prosecute you.’”

"That, Honig said, is very heavy-handed and I understand why there's been a lot of pushback to it.”

Watch the clip below or at this link.