WASHINGTON — The Justice Department filed a sweeping lawsuit Thursday against New York City and Mayor Eric Adams over Gotham’s sanctuary city laws — days after an off-duty US Customs and Border Protection officer was shot in the face during a botched robbery.
The 37-page filing in Brooklyn federal court argued that the city’s decades-old policies limiting the NYPD’s and other law enforcement agency’s cooperation with federal immigration enforcement are unconstitutional.
“The United States has well-established, preeminent, and preemptive authority to regulate immigration,” federal attorneys wrote. “New York City has long been at the vanguard of interfering with enforcing this country’s immigration laws.”
“Just this week, New York City’s sanctuary policies have reaped tragic consequences.”
The tragic consequences allude to a moped-riding illegal immigrant allegedly robbing a CBP officer and shooting him in the face inside Fort Washington Park.
The suspect, later identified as Miguel Francisco Mora Nunez, 21, had allegedly ambushed the federal agent in concert with another illegal immigrant, Christhian Aybar-Berroa, 22.
DOJ officials underscored both suspects had entered the US “illegally and were repeatedly arrested for criminal behavior” before being let off.
“After an April 5, 2024, arrest for fourth-degree felony grand larceny and petit larceny, ICE placed an immigration detainer on one of the aliens,” the lawsuit noted. “But the New York City Department of Correction ignored the detainer and released him back onto the streets of New York City, leaving him free to continue committing crimes.”
The lawsuit names Adams, the City Council, the NYPD and a slew of other local officials and departments as defendants.
Adams has repeatedly insisted he’d like to loosen sanctuary city policies related to dealing with certain crimes, but has been stymied by the council – leaving him helpless to do anything but follow the mandates.
But he has also maintained the policies are in place so law-abiding immigrants aren’t afraid to use city services.
“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,” said City Hall spokeswoman Kayla Mamelak in a statement responding to the lawsuit.
“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 immigration provisions in city law flagrantly flout the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution, which declares that the federal government sets the supreme law of the land, the lawsuit contends.
“The Department of Justice is suing New York City and Mayor Eric Adams for continuing to obstruct law enforcement with sanctuary city policies,” US Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement on X. “If New York’s leaders won’t step up to protect their citizens, we will.”
“New York City has released thousands of criminals on the streets to commit violent crimes against law-abiding citizens due to sanctuary city policies,” she added in a separate statement.
City Hall did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Since Trump took office Jan. 20, the DOJ has lodged lawsuits against Los Angeles, New York state, New Jersey, Chicago and Illinois in an effort to strike down sanctuary city and state policies.
Adams, in the midst of an uphill re-election fight, has taken steps to be cooperative with the Trump administration on immigration, having met chummily several times with border czar Tom Homan – sparking outrage from many local Democrats.
The mayor signaled he’s open to working with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to deport migrants who have been charged with crimes, even before they are convicted. He also agreed to allow ICE officers to operate inside Rikers Island, only to have that stalled after the council filed suit.
Despite Adams’ concessions and other overtures, Homan vowed to “flood the zone” with ICE agents following the weekend shooting.
“NYPD [New York Police Department] wants to help us,” Homan complained to Fox News on Thursday before the lawsuit was filed. “The officers on the ground want to help us, but it’s a sanctuary city that was created by Bill de Blasio and supported by the City Council.”
“New York is NOT helping us with criminals.”
The city’s sanctuary policies – which go back to Mayor Ed Koch in the 1980s – only bar local cops from honoring ICE detainer requests for civil enforcement. They do not stop ICE agents from serving federal criminal warrants.
Illegal immigrants can still face local criminal charges, but they often go free from jail for minor infractions and offenses covered by New York’s controversial bail reforms.
The Trump administration’s concerns have been elevated by the victory of socialist Zohran Mamdani, who has vowed to push back aggressively against the Trump administration’s mass deportation efforts, in last month’s Democratic mayoral primary.
“For too long, New York City has been at the vanguard of interfering with enforcing our immigration laws,” Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate, who is spearheading the case, said. “Its efforts to thwart federal immigration enforcement end now.”
The lawsuit also follows a recent request from seven members of the City Council’s bipartisan Common Sense Caucus for the Trump administration to tackle sanctuary city policies.
“After years of seeking the repeal of New York City’s dangerous ‘sanctuary city laws,’ we asked Attorney General Pam Bondi and the Department of Justice this May to intervene to ensure federal authorities and our own law enforcement agencies could cooperate to keep New Yorkers safe,” a statement from the Caucus reads.
—Additional reporting by Craig McCarthy
