On Wednesday, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced a lawsuit against the state of New York and top officials over a state law that allows New Yorkers to get driver’s licenses without having to prove they are in the country legally.
Watch Bondi’s remarks in the player above.
Bondi said charges had been filed against New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, New York Attorney General Letitia James and the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles commissioner, Mark Schroeder.
“This is a new DOJ, and we are taking steps to protect Americans,” said Bondi, with agents from the FBI, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and Drug Enforcement Administration lined up behind her. “New York has chosen to prioritize illegal aliens over American citizens. It stops. It stops today.”
READ MORE: Justice Department directs prosecutors to investigate state and local efforts to obstruct immigration enforcement
Bondi announced the lawsuit in her first press conference since taking office last week alongside Tammy Nobles, whose 20-year-old daughter was killed in Aberdeen, Maryland, in July 2022 by someone from El Salvador who entered the country illegally months earlier in Texas. The assailant, then 16, was released to a first cousin to pursue asylum, which is common practice under U.S. law and policy.
New York is one of several states that allows people who might not be in the U.S. legally to get driver’s licenses. The so-called Green Light law was enacted partly to improve public safety on the roads, as people without licenses sometimes drove without one, or without having passed a road test. The state also makes it easier for holders of such licenses to get auto insurance, thus cutting down on crashes involving uninsured drivers.
The lawsuit comes days after the Justice Department sued the city of Chicago, alleging that its “sanctuary” laws were thwarting federal efforts to enforce immigration laws.
To trumpet his immigration policies, Trump has often highlighted “angel moms” like Nobles, who lost their loved ones to violent crimes by people in the country illegally. The assailant who killed Nobles’ daughter had been accused by authorities in El Salvador of affiliation with the violent MS-13 gang, according to a report by Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee.
