Trump DOJ Sues Four States Over Undercover License Plates
The Trump administration escalated its battle with Democratic-led states over immigration enforcement on Wednesday, as the Justice Department filed separate lawsuits against Maine, Massachusetts, Oregon, and Washington for refusing to provide undercover license plates to federal agents. The legal action, announced on May 28, marks the most aggressive move yet by Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, who took office in April after President Trump fired Pam Bondi.
The Core Dispute
At the heart of the lawsuits is a question of state versus federal authority. The four states have policies that deny confidential license plates to federal agencies — particularly Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) — for civil immigration enforcement operations, while continuing to issue them to state and local law enforcement. Undercover plates allow law enforcement vehicles to blend in with regular traffic by not displaying standard government fleet identifiers.
According to AP News, the DOJ argues that these policies violate the U.S. Constitution’s Supremacy Clause, which bars states from regulating federal law enforcement. The department had given the states a May 22 deadline to reverse their policies before filing suit.
Federal Government’s Position
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche framed the lawsuits as a matter of public safety and constitutional principle. “By denying undercover license plates to DHS components, including ICE, while issuing them to their own state agencies, these governors are pursuing discriminatory and obstructionist policies against federal law enforcement,” Blanche said in a statement. He argued that the policies “undermine federal immigration enforcement, allow dangerous criminals to escape justice, and terrorize American communities.”
Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate, who leads the DOJ’s Civil Division, had previously sent warning letters to the states. In a letter to Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek, Shumate wrote that Oregon’s DMV had “directly run afoul of the Supremacy Clause by discriminating against the federal government.”
The administration also contends that making federal agents easily identifiable subjects them to increased harassment and physical harm, pointing to reports that cartels have offered bounties for doxxing agents, including photos and family details.
States Push Back
The four states have uniformly rejected the DOJ’s demands, arguing that they are not blocking plates for criminal investigations — only for civil immigration enforcement, which involves arrests for being in the country without legal status, a civil violation rather than a criminal one.
Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, who is also a Democratic candidate for governor, has been among the most vocal defenders of her state’s policy. “There are no secret police in a democracy,” Bellows said, as reported by WGME. “We will always stand up for our Mainers’ safety and freedom.”
Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson echoed that sentiment. “Judges across the country have found that the Department of Homeland Security’s tactics in conducting civil immigration enforcement routinely violate the Constitution,” Ferguson said. “Our state will not facilitate that misconduct.”
Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey’s office took a similar stance. “Massachusetts is not going to allow state resources to be used to help ICE operate in secret while they are violating people’s rights and making us all less safe,” spokesperson Jacqueline Manning told GBH News. She added that any agency engaged in “legitimate criminal law enforcement work can receive a confidential plate. We all know that’s not what ICE is doing.”
Broader Context: A Pattern of Escalation
The lawsuits are part of a wider confrontation between the Trump administration and Democratic-led states over immigration enforcement. The administration has already won a federal court order blocking a California law that barred federal agents from wearing masks, with a judge ruling it discriminated against the federal government.
A critical flashpoint came in January 2026, when masked federal agents shot and killed two U.S. citizens — Renée Nicole Good and Alex Pretti — in Minnesota, sparking widespread condemnation and giving states greater political cover to resist federal demands. The incident is directly referenced in the DOJ’s own filings as context for why states are pushing back.
Blanche has also directed the DOJ’s Civil Division to identify all state and local laws, policies, and practices that could impede “lawful federal operations,” signaling that more lawsuits may be forthcoming against other states, including California, New York, and Illinois.
What Comes Next
The lawsuits, filed in U.S. district courts in all four states, are likely to proceed in parallel. The DOJ is expected to seek preliminary injunctions to force the states to issue plates while litigation continues. The central legal question — whether states can restrict the use of their own license plates for federal civil enforcement — is novel and could ultimately reach the Supreme Court.
In the meantime, the standoff underscores a fundamental disagreement about the limits of federal power and the role of states in checking it. As Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey wrote in his response to the DOJ, the state’s policy “reflects a legitimate and constitutional policy choice” not to allow state resources to be “commandeered by the federal government for use in civil immigration enforcement activities that have resulted in multiple incidents of abusive and unconstitutional conduct.”
With the 2026 midterm elections approaching, the legal battle is also shaping up as a potent political issue — particularly in Maine, where Secretary of State Bellows is running for governor on a platform that includes standing up to federal overreach.