Department of Justice (DOJ) Attorney General Pam Bondi has announced a lawsuit against New York State and its top political officials for refusing to comply with the federal government’s immigration enforcement measures.
Included in the suit are New York Governor Kathleen Hochul, New York State Attorney General Letitia James, and New York State Department of Motor Vehicles Secretary Mark Schroeder.
New York has gained a reputation for being friendly to migrants, both legal and illegal, and has also recently stirred controversy for the nearly $60 million in shelter aid for illegal immigrants that was invested by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
Moreover, New York’s pro-immigration laws and policies have pitted the state against President Donald Trump’s administration, which has pleaded to tighten and strictly enforce federal immigration laws.
Attorney General Bondi’s lawsuit centers around one such law, the ‘Green Light’ law.
The ‘Green Light’ law enables illegal immigrants to receive driving licenses, bars New York DMVs from sharing illegal immigrant’s personal data with federal agencies, and to notify illegal immigrants when such information has been requested by such agencies.
While criticized by conservatives, New York’s Green Light has previously been upheld by various appellate courts.
However, Bondi seems bent on repealing the law.
“This is a new DOJ, and we are taking steps to protect Americans, American citizens, and angel moms,” said Bondi as she announced the lawsuit via press conference. “New York has chosen to prioritize illegal aliens over American citizens. It stops. It stops today.”
Governor Hochul belittled Bondi’s lawsuit, claiming it was a political stunt and legal “smoke and mirrors” disguising a “routine civil action about (Green Light) that has been upheld by the courts time and again.”
"Here are the facts: our current laws allow federal immigration officials to access any DMV database with a judicial warrant,” said Hochul. “But there's no way I'm letting federal agents, or Elon Musk's shadowy DOGE operation, get unfettered access to the personal data of any New Yorker in the DMV system like 16-year-old kids learning to drive and other vulnerable people.”
