Photo: Alamy
New U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced on Wednesday that the Justice Department is suing New York and multiple state leaders over its sanctuary city status.
New York Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul, state Attorney General Letitia James and DMV chief Mark Schroeder were also named as part of the lawsuit.
“This is a new DOJ,” Bondi announced. “New York has chosen to prioritize illegal aliens over American citizens. It stops. It stops today.”
“As you know, we sued Illinois,” Bondi added. “New York didn’t listen. So now, you’re next.”
The lawsuit targets the state’s “Green Light Law,” which allows illegal immigrants to obtain a driver’s license and bans questions about immigration status by the New York Department of Motor Vehicles.
“The United States is currently facing a crisis of illegal immigration. And the Federal Government is set to put a stop to it,” the lawsuit said.
“While States are welcome partners in that effort, it is the prerogative as separate sovereigns to refrain. But a State’s freedom to stand aside is not a freedom to stand in the way. And where inaction crosses into obstruction, a State breaks the law. The State of New York is doing just that. It must be stopped,” it continued.
The lawsuit makes New York the second state sued by the Justice Department under Bondi. She announced a legal case against the state of Illinois and the city of Chicago last week.
The lawsuit was filed against Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and other officials.
The Chicago complaint argued that laws in the state of Illinois and the city of Chicago are an intentional effort to “obstruct the Federal Government’s enforcement of federal immigration law and to impede consultation and communication between federal, state, and local law enforcement officials that is necessary for federal officials to carry out federal immigration law and keep Americans safe.”
“Upon information and belief, the conduct of officials in Chicago and Illinois minimally enforcing—and oftentimes affirmatively thwarting—federal immigration laws over a period of years has resulted in countless criminals being released into Chicago who should have been held for immigration removal from the United States,” it says.
Bondi has also frozen federal funding to sanctuary cities, announcing the policy the day she was sworn in as attorney general.