The United States Department of Justice filed a complaint on Thursday challenging a New York state policy that blocks immigration officials from arresting individuals at or near New York courthouses.
Specifically, the complaint challenges a law called the Protect Our Courts Act that shields immigrants from being lawfully detained at, or on their way to, or from a courthouse and imposes criminal liability for violations of the shield, according to a press release.
This law and accompanying polices violate the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution because they obstruct the execution of federal immigration authorities, the DOJ said.
“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,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “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.”
Despite this, officials from Immigration and Customs Enforcement have been arresting asylum seekers at immigration courts in the Bronx and Manhattan over the past several weeks.
Protests against the Trump administration's mass deportation and immigration polices have intensified alongside the ICE arrests that immigration advocates say are without due process and without warning.
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