Attorney General Pam Bondi announced Wednesday that the Department of Justice sued New York, the second lawsuit in as many weeks against a jurisdiction with so-called sanctuary policies.
Bondi said the lawsuit zeroed in on New York’s “Green Light Law,” which prevents the Department of Motor Vehicles from sharing information it gathers about noncitizens with federal law enforcement officials. The complaint was not available as of this publishing. A spokesman said it was filed in the Northern District of New York.
“They have a tipoff provision that requires New York’s DMV commissioner to promptly inform any illegal alien when a federal immigration agency has requested their information,” Bondi said.
The DOJ last week filed a similar suit against Illinois and other entities in the state, alleging their Way Forward Act, TRUST Act, Welcoming City Act, and a local ordinance that outlines Cook County’s policy on responding to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainers were interfering with federal immigration enforcement in violation of the supremacy clause of the Constitution.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D-IL) responded that Trump has “no idea what he’s up against when he attacks Illinois.”
Bondi vowed on her first day in office to aggressively pursue sanctuary jurisdictions, and her efforts serve to reignite legal fights from the first Trump administration.
Former Attorney General Jeff Sessions unsuccessfully brought a lawsuit against California seeking to invalidate its sanctuary policies in 2017. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against the DOJ, and the Supreme Court declined to take up the government’s appeal.
Bondi unveiled the lawsuit at a press conference while flanked by law enforcement officials and Tammy Nobles, an outspoken mother whose daughter Kayla Hamilton was murdered by an illegal immigrant affiliated with the MS-13 gang in 2022.
“If you are a state not complying with federal law, you’re next. Get ready,” Bondi said, noting that “this is a new DOJ.”
The attorney general projected a tough-on-crime demeanor, but she also drew criticism for opening the press conference by announcing “charges” against New York and its leaders, implying a criminal case had been brought rather than a civil case.
“That she thought using obfuscating language suggesting one thing when something different was the truth leads me to suspect it is more performative than serious,” former federal prosecutor William Shipley wrote on X.
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New York Attorney General Letitia James defended the Green Light Law in a statement.
“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,” she said.
