The U.S. Justice Department initiated a lawsuit against New York, including Governor Kathy Hochul and other state officials, as a part of the Trump administration’s efforts to combat illegal immigration.
Newly sworn-in Attorney General Pam Bondi announced the lawsuit at her first press conference at the Justice Department.
The lawsuit also involves New York Attorney General Letitia James and Mark Schroeder, the current commissioner of the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles.
‘This is a new DOJ and we are taking steps to protect Americans,’ Bondi declared at her press conference.
She accused New York of prioritizing illegal immigrants over U.S. citizens, stating ‘it stops today.’
It comes after the Justice Department took similar action against Illinois and the city of Chicago last week.
‘New York didn’t listen, so now you’re next,’ Bondi said.
She warned the Justice Department is also ready to go after other states they believe are not complying with federal law.
Bondi made her announcement with a group of federal law enforcement officials and an ‘Angel Mom’ Tammy Nobles standing behind her.
One example highlighted in the lawsuit is the tragic story of a mother, Nobles, whose daughter was killed by an undocumented immigrant and gang member. Nobles was also recently featured in a video from the White House.
Bondi during the press conference took aim at New York’s so-called ‘Green Light Law’ which permits undocumented immigrants to get drivers licenses while blocking federal immigration agents from accessing the data.
The attorney general said the head of the state’s DMV was specifically included in the group they sued personally because of the ‘Green Light Law.’
The lawsuit argues the law dating back to 2019 is a ‘frontal assault on the federal immigration laws, and the federal authorities that administer them.’
When asked by a reporter what the Justice Department is seeking, Bondi said they have to see with the New York leaders do next, but she claimed they have to comply with federal law.
The lawsuit against New York and its state leaders come just one day after the Justice Department asked federal prosecutors to drop corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams.
Adams had signaled he was much more willing to work with the president with his illegal immigration crackdown leading up to Trump taking office.
Late last year, Mayor Adams said that ‘New York City was devastated by that broken [immigration] system,’ with more than 220,000 migrants flooding the streets of the five boroughs in recent years.
‘No one has gone through what this administration has gone through, and I believe we can be very helpful in how we address this issue in a very real way.’
When pressed on how the administration is dealing with the crisis Adams emphasized the need to expedite ‘right to work’ programs which allow migrants to earn a paycheck.
Some migrants at The Roosevelt Hotel shelter have previously said they are ‘terrified’ of being deported under Trump, with one man telling DailyMail.com he is already planning to flee the US and go to Costa Rica.
Last week, the Justice Department announced it was suing Illinois, Cook County and Chicago over liberal sanctuary city policies.
They argued in the filing that the sanctuary laws ‘interfere’ with Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s ability to arrest and deport illegal migrants.
Bondi has been taking immediate action to implement Trump’s agenda after being was sworn in as Attorney General one week ago.
She previously served as Florida Attorney General and as one of Trump’s attorneys.
Meanwhile, Tom Homan has said that he is deeply unsatisfied with the rate at which Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents are able to arrest illegal migrants residing in the U.S.
When posed the question of whether Trump is happy with the pace of ICE enforcement on Tuesday, Homan shot back ‘I’m not.’
While the daily arrests this year have surpassed the average daily apprehensions last year, Homan claimed there are ‘hundreds of thousands’ of criminal undocumented immigrants that need to be arrested.
‘Sanctuary cities are putting roadblocks up, we got leaks,’ the border czar claimed, noting how some ICE operations have been foiled due to intelligence leaks.
‘So, we need to increase the arrests of illegal aliens, especially those with criminal convictions. So, we’re going to continue. So, three times higher is good. The numbers are good. For me, not good enough. We’ve got to get more.’
Homan has been working closely with Homeland Security and the Department of Justice to crackdown on migrants in the country unlawfully and noted in a recent interview he believes he found the source of the intel leaks.
He shared that initial information gathered points to an FBI official being behind the leaks.
‘I talked to the Deputy Attorney General all this weekend. They’ve opened up a criminal investigation, and they have promised that not only is this person gonna lose their job and lose their pension, they’re gonna go to jail, they’re gonna be criminally prosecuted, so we’re all over it,’ Homan shared.
