The Justice Department has ordered federal prosecutors to investigate state or local officials who they believe are interfering with the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration, saying they could face criminal charges, in an apparent warning to the dozens of so-called sanctuary jurisdictions across America.

A memo asserts that state and local officials are bound to cooperate and could face criminal prosecution or civil penalties if they fail to comply.

President Donald Trump's administration has directed U.S. prosecutors to criminally probe local officials who resist immigration enforcement efforts, intensifying a sweeping crackdown that Trump launched the day he took office.