The Justice Department opened a new front in its legal war on sanctuary jurisdictions Thursday, filing a lawsuit seeking to shut down New York City’s policies that protect illegal immigrants from the reach of federal deportation authorities.
City officials are barred from cooperating on many deportation “detainer” requests from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, meaning they will not hold migrants for pickup nor even notify ICE before someone is going to be released.
The result was a severe drop in cooperation between city law enforcement and ICE.
“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 Pamela Bondi said. “If New York City won’t stand up for the safety of its citizens, we will.”
The lawsuit, filed in the federal court in the Eastern District of New York, names Mayor Eric Adams, the city council and other top officials as defendants.
It follows similar lawsuits the Trump team has filed against New York state, Minnesota, Illinois and Colorado, as well as Rochester, New York, and some New Jersey cities.
Trump officials had been hoping for better cooperation from Mr. Adams, particularly after the Trump Justice Department canceled a federal prosecution of the mayor.
His spokeswoman, Kayla Mamelak, defended his handling of immigration enforcement but said he’s open to some changes.
“That’s why the mayor supports the essence of the local laws put in place by the City Council — but he has also been clear they go too far when it comes to dealing with those violent criminals on our streets and has urged the Council to reexamine them to ensure we can effectively work with the federal government to make our city safer. So far, the Council has refused,” the spokeswoman said.
The New York Immigration Coalition called the lawsuit “frivolous.”
“Mayor Adams must fight back against this federal overreach and defend the well-being of all New Yorkers,” said Murad Awawdeh, the coalition’s president.
New York was one of the first jurisdictions to adopt a formal sanctuary policy, dating back to the 1980s. It has fortified its policies in the ensuing years.
Its restrictions on cooperation do allow for exceptions for migrants convicted of major crimes within the last five years.
Federal authorities, though, say that excludes many illegal immigrants who are charged with major crimes but who are still released into the community by city authorities.
Homeland Security said earlier this week that it has increased the number of detainer requests filed with New York by more than 400%, topping 6,000 over the last six months.
The department said the city has only complied with a “handful” during that time.
Department officials pointed to a new case this month where two illegal immigrants caught and released under the Biden administration have been accused of seriously wounding an off-duty border officer by shooting him in the face during a botched robbery.
Both were the subjects of detainer requests that had been ignored and could have kept the men off the streets, Trump officials said.