WASHINGTON – Attorney General Pam Bondi said Wednesday that the Justice Department is suing the state of New York and its top officials for prioritizing “illegal aliens over American citizens.”
“As you know, we sued Illinois and New York didn’t listen. So now you’re next,” Bondi said.
Bondi, in her first news conference since being confirmed, said “millions” of people “with violent records have flooded into our communities, bringing violence and deadly drugs with them,” and that states like New York with permissive immigration policies were contributing to the problem.
Bondi announced that DOJ sued not only the state of New York but also Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul, Attorney General Letitia James and Mark Schroeder, the state’s motor vehicles commissioner. Hochul’s office didn’t immediately return calls for comment.
James responded with a statement that state laws protect New Yorkers and keep communities safe.
“I am prepared to defend our laws, just as I always have,” James said.
Bondi said the lawsuit targets what she called New York’s policy of limiting law enforcement agencies from working with immigration authorities, allowing dangerous criminals to operate with impunity across state lines.
She brought to the dais an “Angel Mom,” Tammy Nobles, whose 20-year-old daughter, Kayla Hamilton, was killed in 2022 by a member of the MS-13 gang in New York “who should not have been in our country.”
“Yet he was released, flown to Maryland, where he committed this violent murder,” Bondi said.
“That’s who we were letting walk into our country, and that’s why President Trump has directed this to stop,” Bondi said in her brief remarks. “And if you don’t comply with federal law, we will hold you accountable.”
Bondi did not provide many details of the specific laws that she said New York had broken but said its policies were undermining and hindering law enforcement, including from running background checks on potentially violent offenders in the country illegally.
The Justice Department last Thursday sued Illinois and Chicago, alleging their sanctuary city policies were blocking federal authorities from enforcing immigration laws.
Other lawsuits over President Trump’s policies
Bondi’s news conference came after federal judges temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s attempts to freeze spending, cull the federal workforce, end automatic citizenship for children born on U.S. soil, send transgender women to men’s prisons and give Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency access to federal payment systems. (On Wednesday night, a judge in Boston allowed a widespread buyout plan to continue.)
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said “liberal” judges issued at least 12 injunctions against the administration the previous two weeks. Trump said Tuesday that he would obey the rulings, but would seek every legal remedy possible to overturn adverse decisions.
“Quick news flash to these liberal judges who are supporting their obstructionist efforts: 77 million Americans voted to elect this president,” Leavitt said. “Each injunction is an abuse of the rule of law and an attempt to thwart the will of the people.”
Bondi said judicial impeachments, which Trump aide Elon Musk suggested, are “not going to be happening now.”
“We’re going to follow the law right now. We’re going to follow the process,” Bondi said. “These are federal judges with lifetime appointments. But they will be struck down ultimately by the Supreme Court of the United States if the appellate courts don’t follow the law as well.”
Who is Pam Bondi?
Bondi, a former eight-year Florida attorney general and 18-year state prosecutor, helped defend Trump during his first impeachment.
Trump, who faced two federal indictments before the charges were dropped because he won the election, named former defense lawyers to several top posts at the department.
Todd Blanche and Emil Bove, who were named for deputy attorney general and principal associate deputy attorney general, respectively, defended Trump in multiple criminal cases. John Sauer, who represented Trump at the Supreme Court, was picked for solicitor general to argue government cases before the high court.
Democrats questioned whether Bondi could act independently from Trump’s priorities, but she said politics wouldn’t play a role in her overseeing the department.
“Politics will not play a part,” Bondi said at her confirmation hearing. “I’ve demonstrated that my entire career as a prosecutor, as attorney general and I will continue to do that.”
Since then, Trump has pardoned nearly everyone charged in the Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021, and the department has fired prosecutors who participated in the investigation.
