The Trump administration filed a lawsuit against New York City on Thursday, accusing it of obstructing federal immigration enforcement through its “sanctuary city” policies and linking those policies to the recent shooting of an off-duty US Customs officer.
Brought by the US Department of Justice, the lawsuit marks the latest in a series of federal challenges in the US targeting state and local measures seen as hindering immigration enforcement.
“New York City has released thousands of criminals on the streets to commit violent crimes against law-abiding citizens due to sanctuary city policies,” US Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a press release. “If New York City won’t stand up for the safety of its citizens, we will.”
The complaint names Mayor Eric Adams, Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch and several other city officials and departments. It challenges policies that include barring city law enforcement from honouring civil immigration detainers by holding people in custody past their release date.
Kayla Mamelak Altus, a spokesperson for Adams, said the mayor “supports the essence” of the city’s policies but has urged the City Council “to re-examine them to ensure we can effectively work with the federal government to make our city safer” when it comes to dealing with “violent criminals.”
Altus said that so far the City Council has refused to do so. The Council did not immediately return a request for comment.
New York Civil Liberties Union Executive Director Donna Lieberman said the city “has no obligation to redirect its resources to take on federal immigration enforcement, let alone the cruel and lawless deportation campaign the Trump regime is waging.”
“New York City’s decades-old, bipartisan sanctuary laws have made our city safer, supported our economy, strengthened our communities, and made it easier for our people to access vital services," Lieberman said.
The suit comes after Trump officials on Monday blamed the city’s sanctuary policies for the shooting of a Customs and Border Protection officer in a Manhattan park over the weekend. The officer was off duty and not in uniform at the time.
