If Senate Democrats thought they could hamstring Donald Trump by tying up his nominees, they just received an unpleasant surprise. While Pam Bondi and Kristi Noem have to cool their heels waiting for confirmation votes, Trump's appointed acting directors have already begun applying Trump's policies and objectives without any input from Capitol Hill. 

That's especially true on immigration, where Trump wants to impress on everyone how hard he will fight to end the chaos at the border and in the cities. Acting Deputy AG Emil Bove has already started that fight at the Department of Justice as Trump's border czar Tom Homan begins rounding up violent illegal immigrants. Bove has a special message for officials in "sanctuary" jurisdictions that refuse to cooperate, too:

The Justice Department is directing its federal prosecutors to investigate any state or local officials who stand in the way of beefed-up enforcement of immigration laws under the Trump administration, according to a memo to the entire workforce obtained by The Associated Press on Wednesday.

Bove wasn't terribly subtle about the message, either. The three-page memo doesn't spend much time on gentle persuasion. Instead, it reminds US Attorneys that the Supremacy Clause exists for the purpose to ensure that federal authority takes precedence, especially on matters such as immigration and national security. Anyone interfering with that is committing a federal crime, and Bove expects prosecutors to start charging those crimes:

Up until now, "sanctuary" declarations have been a zero-cost opportunity for progressive politicians to engage in virtue signaling. That is, it has been zero-cost to the politicians. American families have unfortunately paid high costs for this obstruction, including the deaths of people like Laken Riley, whose perp had managed to navigate through the American legal system without much consequence.

Now this kind of obstruction, which was always illegal, will have a high cost for the officeholders in "sanctuary" cities and states. Some might be willing to face federal prosecutors over their activism, but after one or two actually get charged, look for these officeholders to switch to a much less substantial and far more symbolic method of protest. And just to make sure this policy sticks, note that Bove now requires all prosecutors who decline to charge obstruction to file an immediate report with the DoJ to review that decision. That should incentivize some enthusiasm for this new policy.

That's not the only change being made at the DoJ, either. When Trump first took office, then-AG Jeff Sessions ordered prosecutors to charge any illegal alien with the highest level provable offense in order to disincentivize more illegal immigration. The Biden administration changed that policy, but Bove is changing it back:

Bove’s memo also reversed several changes the Biden administration made to criminal charging policies. He directed prosecutors to “pursue the most serious, readily provable offense” against each defendant, reverting to a May 2017 memo issued by Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

Er ... why wouldn't that have been DoJ policy all along? They certainly applied that approach to the January 6 rioters, who might have deserved some prosecution but got ferociously pursued for years in an obviously politicized crusade against Donald Trump. Illegal aliens who commit crimes in the US do not deserve a light touch that allows them to keep offending in the US, especially when those offenses keep ramping up in seriousness. Full prosecution on all provable charges should be the minimum expectation when dealing with people who have no legal basis to be here in the first place. 

In that sense, these changes are long overdue. However, in another sense, they show just how well-prepared Trump and his team were to assume command. It took four months for Sessions to order this prosecution strategy the first time around, but less than 40 hours for Bove to reinstate it this time. That's impressive, and it bodes ill for those who will seek to throw sand in the gears of Trump's policies.

Who's tired of winning yet? 

Update: I changed the headline slightly to emphasize the point better.