The Trump administration sued New York on Thursday over a state law that largely blocks immigration agents from conducting arrests in state or local courthouses, arguing that the measure is an unconstitutional effort to stymie immigration enforcement efforts.
Lawmakers in New York passed the law in 2020 as Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers escalated arrests of undocumented immigrants at state and local courts during President Trump’s first term. The measure — which says law enforcement officers can arrest people at or near courthouses only if the officers have a court order or criminal warrant signed by a judge — makes it harder for ICE to conduct immigration arrests, which are civil matters.
Pam Bondi, the attorney general, cast the state law as a left-wing measure that shielded criminals and endangered public safety. The lawsuit came four months after Ms. Bondi, in one of her first moves, sued New York over another state law that allows undocumented immigrants to get a driver’s license.
“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,” Ms. Bondi said in a statement. “This latest lawsuit in a series of sanctuary city litigation underscores the Department of Justice’s commitment to keeping Americans safe and aggressively enforcing the law.”
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Albany, is the latest move by the Trump administration in its quest to topple local policies that it argues are unlawfully interfering with its widening immigration crackdown. The White House is looking to force more cooperation from states and cities that are dominated by Democratic officials. Many of those states have large immigrant populations and have passed so-called sanctuary laws that restrict how much local officials can engage with federal immigration authorities.
The administration has already sued some sanctuary jurisdictions, including Chicago; threatened to charge local officials who resist immigration enforcement; and recently released a list of nearly 400 localities it says are interfering with immigration enforcement actions.
The lawsuit came on the same day that Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, was in Washington to testify before a Republican-led House committee on state sanctuary policies, along with Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota and Gov. JB Pritzker of Illinois, both Democrats.
Jess D’Amelia, a spokeswoman for Ms. Hochul, called the lawsuit an apparent “waste of federal resources,” noting that state officials cooperate with ICE on criminal investigations and the apprehension of immigrants convicted of state crimes.
“It’s important that witnesses, victims, and ordinary people can make use of our court system and feel safe in our courthouses and other state facilities,” Ms. D’Amelia said in a statement. “There is no sanctuary in New York for people who commit crimes.”
Former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, a Democrat, signed the legislation into law in 2020 after ICE stepped up the arrest of people coming in and out of courthouses during the first Trump administration. Critics argued that the ICE arrests disrupted and scared people who aren’t citizens from engaging with the justice system, including when they have been victims of crimes or witnessed criminal acts. Other states, including California and Washington, and localities have passed similar policies barring ICE agents from courthouses.
ICE officials argue that arresting people in courthouses is easier and safer for its officers and the public, in part because targets who enter courthouses are already screened for weapons. It also reduces the risk of flight, officials argue.
“These laws pose intolerable obstacles to federal immigration enforcement and directly regulate and discriminate against the federal government,” according to the lawsuit. The Trump administration argues that the New York law violates the Constitution’s supremacy clause, which makes federal laws supersede conflicting state laws.
Immigration agents were generally prohibited from conducting arrests at or near state and local courthouses under former President Joseph R. Biden Jr., unless someone presented a national security or public safety risk. But ICE rescinded those policies the day after Mr. Trump took office in January.
A directive issued in January that allows ICE officers to conduct arrests at courthouses encourages agents to conduct the arrests in parts of the courthouses that are not accessible to the public, in coordination with court security staff and away from family and small claims courts.
The lawsuit comes as ICE has launched a nationwide operation to arrest undocumented immigrants showing up for routine hearings at federal immigration courts, which are operated by the Department of Justice and not beholden to state laws restricting arrests in local courts.
State Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal, a Democrat who sponsored the legislation that is Ms. Bondi’s target, known as the Protect our Courts Act, described the lawsuit as “baseless and frivolous.”
“At a time when masked ICE officials are roaming the state and lawlessly detaining New Yorkers without any due process, the law preserves access to justice and participation in the judicial process,” he said.
Luis Ferré-Sadurní is a Times reporter covering immigration, focused on the influx of migrants arriving in the New York region.
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