Attorney General Pam Bondi announces lawsuit against New York over immigration enforcement
Attorney General Pam Bondi announced Wednesday the Justice Department is filing a lawsuit against the state of New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul and state Attorney General Letitia James over immigration enforcement.
"We are taking steps to protect Americans," Bondi said, adding that "New York has chosen to prioritize illegal aliens over American citizens."
"We sued Illinois, and New York didn't listen, so now, you're next," Bondi said.
In a statement provided to CBS News New York Wednesday night in response to the lawsuit, James said: "Our state laws, including the Green Light law, protect the rights of all New Yorkers and keep our communities safe. I am prepared to defend our laws, just as I always have."
Bondi highlighted some of the allegations in the federal complaint, including that state officials in New York are directed by law to inform undocumented immigrants when federal agents seek information related to their immigration status. The attorney general also alleged during the news conference that New York's statutes unlawfully prevent state and federal law enforcement from enforcing immigration law.
In a separate statement responding to the lawsuit late Wednesday night, Hochul called Bondi's news conference "smoke and mirrors," because the Justice Department's lawsuit was "a routine civil action about a law passed in 2019 that has been upheld by the courts time and again."
"There's no way I'm letting federal agents, or Elon Musk's shadowy DOGE operation, get unfettered access to the personal data of any New Yorker in the DMV system like 16-year-old kids learning to drive and other vulnerable people," Hochul said in a statement.
"We expect Pam Bondi's worthless, publicity-driven lawsuit to be a total failure, just like all the others. Let me be clear: New York is not backing down," Hochul continued.
Absent from the lawsuit is New York City Mayor Eric Adams. On Tuesday, the Justice Department directed prosecutors to drop their probe into Adams' office for now, arguing that the legal case "has unduly restricted Mayor Adams' ability to devote full attention and resources to the illegal immigration and violent crime" that occurred in his city under former President Joe Biden.
"We're hoping that in New York, that Mayor Adams is going to cooperate with us with the sanctuary cities and the illegal aliens," Bondi said, adding later that while the case against Adams had not yet been dropped, she expected federal prosecutors to dismiss the charges soon.
Tammy Nobles, the mother of a woman killed by an MS-13 gang member from El Salvador, spoke during the news conference about the murder of her daughter.
In her first hours as attorney general, she issued a sweeping set of directives that targeted sanctuary jurisdictions with an order to end funding to any that "unlawfully interfere with federal law enforcement operations." She encouraged the department to pursue enforcement actions against sanctuary cities or states that don't comply with the federal government's immigration enforcement efforts.
"State and local jurisdictions must comply with applicable immigration-related federal laws," one memo read. It also said that "state and local actors may not impede, obstruct, or otherwise fail to comply with lawful immigration-related directives."
In another memo, Bondi targeted cartels and transnational criminal organizations, writing that "additional resources and thoughtful charging decisions" would be necessary to fight illegal drug trafficking and the department would pursue "total elimination" of these groups.
Last week, the Justice Department filed a lawsuit against the state of Illinois, the city of Chicago and other local jurisdictions alleging their laws stood in the way of the Trump administration's increased immigration enforcement in the area.
In the first weeks of the Trump administration, Bondi's acting deputy, Emil Bove, instructed Justice Department prosecutors across the country to focus on enacting Mr. Trump's immigration policies in their prosecutions and said they should potentially charge state or local officials who might impede their efforts.
During Thursday's press conference, Bondi also responded to questions about Elon Musk's criticism of judges who have ruled against the Trump administration's moves in recent weeks. The tech billionaire and head of the Department of Government Efficiency has advocated impeaching federal judges over their decisions.
Bondi said that while she had not seen the comments, impeachment efforts were currently not on the table, and she added that the administration would appeal the rulings against it.
