Justice Department Sues NYC Over Sanctuary Immigration Policies

NEW YORK CITY — The Justice Department on Thursday filed a lawsuit against New York City, Mayor Eric Adams, and several other city officials challenging the city's sanctuary city laws.

The lawsuit was filed in the Eastern District of New York and argues that New York’s sanctuary policies have allowed "dangerous criminals to roam the streets and commit heinous crimes within the community."

In addition, they claim the city's policies "reflect an intentional effort to obstruct federal law enforcement and thus are preempted under the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution."

“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 in a statement. “If New York City won’t stand up for the safety of its citizens, we will.”

The DOJ has also filed lawsuits against L.A., Colorado, Illinois and New Jersey in the last three months.

Kayla Mamelak, a spokesperson for the mayor, said the city will review the lawsuit.

"The job of a mayor is to protect the safety of every single person in their city — and that’s exactly what Mayor Adams has worked to do every day for nearly four years. Keeping New Yorkers safe also means making sure they feel safe, and Mayor Adams has been clear: no one should be afraid to dial 911, send their kids to school, or go to the hospital, and no New Yorker should feel forced to hide in the shadows. 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 lawsuit comes after the shooting of an off-duty Customs and Border Protection officer in Washington Heights.

You can read the full lawsuit here.

This is a developing story. This post will be updated.