President Donald Trump’s newly installed attorney general, Pam Bondi, went after New York leaders Wednesday over the state’s immigration policies, announcing a lawsuit in the latest effort by the Republican administration to carry out the president’s hardline immigration campaign pledges.
In her first press conference since taking office last week, Bondi accused New York leaders of prioritizing “illegal aliens over American citizens.” Standing in front of federal agents who have been tasked with helping in Trump’s immigration crackdown, she echoed the president’s rhetoric as she vowed the Justice Department would take on communities that thwart federal immigration efforts.
Bondi said the federal government was suing New York Attorney General Letitia James and Gov. Kathy Hochul over a state law that allows people who might not be in the U.S. legally to get driver’s licenses. The so-called Green Light Law was enacted partly to improve public safety on the roads, as people without licenses sometimes drove without one, or without having passed a road test. The state also makes it easier for holders of such licenses to get auto insurance, thus cutting down on crashes involving uninsured drivers.
Bondi slammed a provision of the law she said requires New York’s Department of Motor Vehicles commissioner to inform people who are in the country illegally when a federal immigration agency has requested their information.
A copy of the lawsuit was not immediately available Wednesday evening.
The lawsuit comes days after the Justice Department sued the city of Chicago, alleging that its “ sanctuary” laws were thwarting federal efforts to enforce immigration laws.
“This is a new DOJ, and we are taking steps to protect Americans,” said Bondi, with agents from the FBI, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and Drug Enforcement Administration lined up behind her. “Millions of illegal aliens with violent records have flooded into our communities, bringing violence and deadly drugs with them.”
Bondi appeared alongside Tammy Nobles, whose 20-year-old daughter was killed in Aberdeen, Maryland, in July 2022 by someone from El Salvador who entered the country illegally months earlier in Texas. The assailant, then 16, was released to a first cousin to pursue asylum, which is common practice under U.S. law and policy. He had been accused by authorities in El Salvador of affiliation with the violent MS-13 gang, according to a report by Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee.
To trumpet his immigration policies, Trump has often highlighted “angel moms” like Nobles, who lost their loved ones to violent crimes by people in the country illegally.
In 2020, the Trump administration sought to pressure New York into changing its law by barring anyone from the state from enrolling in trusted traveler programs, meaning they would spend longer amounts of time going through security lines at airports.
New York’s governor at the time, Andrew Cuomo, offered to restore federal access to driving records on a limited basis, but said he wouldn’t let immigration agents see lists of people who had applied for the special licenses available to immigrants who couldn’t prove legal residency in the U.S.
The Trump administration ultimately restored New Yorkers’ access to the trusted traveler program after a brief legal fight.
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AP journalist Elliot Spagat in San Diego contributed.
