DOJ Sues New York Over Law Blocking Immigration Arrests at Courthouses

The Department of Justice has filed another lawsuit against the state of New York over its sanctuary policies, this time challenging a law that prevents immigration-related arrests at courthouses.

“Lawless sanctuary city policies are the root cause of the violence that Americans have seen in California, and New York State is similarly employing sanctuary city policies to prevent illegal aliens from apprehension,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a press release on June 12.

The suit was the latest in a series of actions the Justice Department has brought alleging that sanctuary jurisdictions across the country thwarted federal authority. In New York, the Justice Department has brought two other lawsuits: One challenging the City of Rochester, and another targeting the state’s restriction on sharing information through the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV).

The June 12 lawsuit was filed in the Northern District of New York against a law known as the Protect Our Courts Act, and two executive orders from former Gov. Andrew Cuomo. While the orders block information sharing with immigration enforcement, the Protect Our Courts Act blocks civil immigration arrests for immigrants either attending or in transit to or from a New York court proceeding.

“These laws pose intolerable obstacles to federal immigration enforcement and directly regulate and discriminate against the Federal Government, in contravention of the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution,” the department’s lawsuit states.

The Supremacy Clause of the Constitution generally ensures that federal law trumps state law when there is a conflict between the two.

In their sanctuary lawsuits, the state of New York and others have pointed to the Tenth Amendment, which reserves certain powers for states. For example, both the City of Rochester and New York state officials have said that the Tenth Amendment bars the administration from forcing them to use their resources for federal immigration enforcement.

The latest lawsuit names state Attorney General Letitia James and Gov. Kathy Hochul, who was testifying at a congressional hearing on sanctuary cities on the day the lawsuit was filed. During the hearing, she and Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) had an exchange in which they disagreed over whether the state assists Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Hochul maintained that the state assisted ICE on criminal matters and didn’t shield illegal immigrants. After listing multiple violent crimes committed by illegal immigrants, Stefanik said, “This is Kathy Hochul’s New York.”

Hochul has requested that a federal judge in New York dismiss the Justice Department’s earlier lawsuit targeting the state’s DMV policy, otherwise known as a “green light law.” That law prohibits the DMV from sharing personal information with immigration authorities “except as required by law,” the state said in a March filing.

The state argued that the law was “a valid exercise of the State’s traditional police powers.” It added that the state’s “decision to disregard immigration status and protect personal information does not violate any provision of federal law or obstruct enforcement of the federal immigration laws.”