The Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a lawsuit Thursday against New York City, as well as Mayor Eric Adams (D) and other city leaders, to challenge laws that protect undocumented migrants in the city.
“New York City has released thousands of criminals on the streets to commit violent crimes against law-abiding citizens due to sanctuary city policies,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement. “If New York City won’t stand up for the safety of its citizens, we will.”
The DOJ accused city leaders of “efforts to thwart federal immigration enforcement.”
“New York City has long been at the vanguard of interfering with enforcing this country’s
immigration laws,” the DOJ wrote in its lawsuit. “Its history as a sanctuary city dates back to 1989, and its efforts to thwart federal immigration enforcement have only intensified since.”
It cited city ordinances that block local authorities from working with federal immigration officials when unauthorized migrants are detained.
“The job of a mayor is to protect the safety of every single person in their city and that’s exactly what Mayor Adams has worked to do every day for nearly four years,” Adams spokesperson Kayla Mamelak Altus said in a statement to The Hill. “Keeping New Yorkers safe also means making sure they feel safe, and Mayor Adams has been clear: no one should be afraid to dial 911, send their kids to school, or go to the hospital, and no New Yorker should feel forced to hide in the shadows.”
Altus noted that the mayor is also supportive of reevaluating laws that may go too far to protect potentially violent criminals and “has urged the Council to reexamine them to ensure we can effectively work with the federal government to make our city safer.”
The city is reviewing the federal suit, Altus added.
The DOJ is seeking an injunction against the city to block protections for immigrants.
President Trump’s DOJ has filed similar suits against other Democratic-led jurisdictions, including New York state, Colorado and Illinois, as well as Chicago, Los Angeles, and Newark and multiple other cities in New Jersey.
Updated at 4:56 p.m. EDT.
