WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump’s newly installed attorney general, Pam Bondi, went after New York leaders Wednesday over the state’s immigration policies, announcing a lawsuit in the latest effort by the Republican administration to carry out the president’s hardline immigration campaign pledges.
In her first press conference since taking office last week, Bondi accused New York leaders of prioritizing “illegal aliens over American citizens.” Standing in front of federal agents who have been tasked with helping in Trump’s immigration crackdown, she echoed the president’s rhetoric as she vowed the Justice Department would take on communities that thwart federal immigration efforts.
The lawsuit against New York Attorney General Letitia James and Gov. Kathy Hochul targets a state law that allows people who might not be in the U.S. legally to get driver’s licenses. The so-called Green Light Law was enacted partly to improve public safety on the roads, as people without licenses sometimes drove without one, or without having passed a road test. The state also makes it easier for holders of such licenses to get auto insurance, thus cutting down on crashes involving uninsured drivers.
The lawsuit describes the law as “a frontal assault on the federal immigration laws, and the federal authorities that administer them.” It highlights a provision that requires the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles commissioner to inform people who are in the country illegally when a federal immigration agency has requested their information. The Justice Department is asking the court to strike down the law.
“This is a new DOJ, and we are taking steps to protect Americans,” said Bondi, with agents from the FBI, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and Drug Enforcement Administration lined up behind her. “Millions of illegal aliens with violent records have flooded into our communities, bringing violence and deadly drugs with them.”
Bondi’s politically charged rhetoric, unusual for an institution that has historically been wary of aligning itself so directly with the White House, and the selection of legal targets raise fresh concerns that she could seek to use the agency’s law enforcement powers to go after the president’s adversaries. James, the New York attorney general, has drawn Trump’s ire by suing him, leading to a civil fraud judgment that stands to cost Trump nearly $500 million.
James said in a statement that she’s prepared to defend the state’s laws, which she said “protect the rights of all New Yorkers and keep our communities safe.”
Avi Small, a spokesperson for Hochul, said the governor ”has been clear from day one: she supports deporting violent criminals who break our laws, believes that law-abiding families should not be targets, and will coordinate with federal authorities who have a judicial warrant.”
Bondi appeared alongside Tammy Nobles, whose 20-year-old daughter Kayla was killed in Aberdeen, Maryland, in July 2022 by someone from El Salvador who entered the country illegally months earlier in Texas. The assailant, then 16, was released to a first cousin to pursue asylum, which is common practice under U.S. law and policy. He had been accused by authorities in El Salvador of affiliation with the violent MS-13 gang, according to a report by Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee.
To trumpet his immigration policies, Trump has often highlighted “angel moms” like Nobles, who lost their loved ones to violent crimes by people in the country illegally.
“Tammy represents not only herself and her family but all of the great angel moms around this country who have suffered because of what the Biden administration did,” Bondi said. “And it’s over.”
The lawsuit comes days after the Justice Department sued the city of Chicago, alleging that its “ sanctuary” laws were thwarting federal efforts to enforce immigration laws.
In 2020, the Trump administration sought to pressure New York into changing its law by barring anyone from the state from enrolling in trusted traveler programs, meaning they would spend longer amounts of time going through security lines at airports.
New York’s governor at the time, Andrew Cuomo, offered to restore federal access to driving records on a limited basis, but said he wouldn’t let immigration agents see lists of people who had applied for the special licenses available to immigrants who couldn’t prove legal residency in the U.S.
The Trump administration ultimately restored New Yorkers’ access to the trusted traveler program after a brief legal fight.
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AP journalist Elliot Spagat in San Diego, Eric Tucker in Washington and Michael R. Sisak in New York contributed.
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