CNBC: The Trump administration sued New York City on Thursday over its “sanctuary” laws, continuing a monthslong effort to crack down on localities that try to shield undocumented immigrants from federal detainment efforts.
“New York City has released thousands of criminals on the streets to commit violent crimes against law-abiding citizens due to sanctuary city policies. If New York City won’t stand up for the safety of its citizens, we will,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said.
Included in Trump’s effort to drastically reduce the flow of unlawful immigration into the United States has been a concerted effort by his administration to crack down on so-called sanctuary jurisdictions, described as states, cities, counties or municipalities that enact laws that effectively prevent local officials from cooperating with federal immigration authorities.
The administration alleged New York’s sanctuary city policies “impede the Federal Government’s ability to enforce the federal immigration laws” and “violate the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution.”
Among the defendants named in the suit are New York Mayor Eric Adams; City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, a former mayoral candidate; and Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch.
In the suit, filed in the Eastern District of New York, the administration asks the court to declare that the city’s laws violate the Supremacy Clause and are therefore invalid. The administration also asked the court to permanently prohibit the city’s departments and officials from enforcing the sanctuary city policies. Mayor Adams had sought to establish a friendly relationship with administration officials, meeting with Trump’s “border czar,” Tom Homan, before Trump’s inauguration to discuss what he called a shared goal to remove violent immigrants from the city.
Despite the early outreach, Homan this week sharpened his attacks on New York, which he has described as “the biggest sanctuary city in this country,” after an off-duty Customs and Border Protection agent was shot in the city. Several Trump administration officials, including Homan and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, attributed the shooting to the city’s sanctuary policies. City officials have detained a person of interest and said the shooting was an attempted robbery that did not appear to be connected to the victim’s job.
