Months after successfully advocating for the dismissal of corruption charges against the New York City mayor, the Trump administration is suing Eric Adams.
In a lawsuit filed by the Department of Justice on Thursday, Trump officials accused Adams and other NYC officials of undermining the president’s mass deportation agenda. The lawsuit, which also names the city council and the New York Police Department as defendants, said that New York City’s sanctuary laws violate the supremacy clause of the Constitution.
“New York City has long been at the vanguard of interfering with enforcing this country’s immigration laws,” the DOJ wrote in the suit. “Its history as a sanctuary city dates back to 1989, and its efforts to thwart federal immigration enforcement have only intensified since.”
The complaint argued that the city’s policies are an “intentional effort to obstruct the United States’ enforcement of federal immigration law” and put Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in “considerable risk of physical danger.” When the DOJ pressed for the dismissal of corruption charges against Adams in February, they said the case was interfering with Adams’ ability to cooperate with “federal immigration initiatives and policies.”
The lawsuit comes after an off-duty customs officer was shot in an attempted robbery in the city over the weekend. The Trump administration has filed similar lawsuits against city officials in Chicago and Los Angeles.
A spokesperson for Adams defended the city’s sanctuary policies to Politico.
“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,” Press Secretary Kayla Mamelak Altus said.
