The filing of a civil lawsuit by the Department of Justice against New York State locks in an emerging clash between America’s attorney general — Pam Bondi — and the Empire State’s top law enforcement official — Attorney General James. 

“This is a new DOJ,” General Bondi announced. “New York has chosen to prioritize illegal aliens over American citizens. It stops. It stops today,”  Ms. Bondi declared at her first press conference on Wednesday. The suit, filed at federal court at Albany, names Ms. James, Governor Hochul, and the leader of the Department of Motor Vehicles, Mark Schroeder.

Mayor Adams, though, was not named in the complaint. This week, the DOJ that Ms. Bondi leads declared its intention to dismiss the federal bribery charges against the city’s mayor. The attorney general explained at her press conference that “we’re hoping that in New York, that Mayor Adams is going to cooperate with us with the sanctuary cities and the illegal aliens.”

The complaint declares that “The United States is currently facing a crisis of illegal immigration” and explains that “a State’s freedom to stand aside” from enforcing immigration law “is not a freedom to stand in the way” of the federal government. The DOJ’s position is that when “inaction crosses into obstruction, a State breaks the law. The State of New York is doing just that.”

The crux of the suit is New York’s “Green Light Law,” which took effect in 2019. It allows illegal immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses, and bans the sharing of DMV records with federal immigration agencies and orders. The complaint explains that the law allows a “DMV Commissioner to promptly tip off any illegal alien when a federal immigration agency has requested his or her information.” Ms. Bondi wants an injunction barring enforcement of the law. 

The DOJ explains that “DMV information is critical to federal immigration agencies — in particular their ability to identify and remove those who are here illegally.” In a press release issued at the Green Light Law’s passing, Ms. James called the statute a “well crafted-law” that ensures the “information of undocumented immigrants . . . will be protected” from federal authorities. 

The complaint, though, insists that the “Constitution sees things differently. New York’s Green Light Law violates the Supremacy Clause at every turn.” That part of the parchment ordains in part that “This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States … shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.”

The Supreme Court has held that the Supremacy Clause bars a state from erecting “an obstacle to the accomplishment and execution of the full purposes and objectives” of federal law. The complaint argues that New York’s law does precisely that by wounding the “Federal Government’s ability to learn and share valuable information to remove illegal aliens.”

It is now the DOJ’s view that the “Green Light Law is a frontal assault on the federal immigration laws, and the federal authorities that administer them … federal law does not tolerate this sort of obstruction. Nor does the Constitution.” The complaint adds that “the Green Light Law directly threatens the safety of federal immigration officials” by depriving them of information they require to assess risk in real time.

The DOJ adduces evidence of intent to violate the Supremacy Clause from statements made by the Green Light Law’s supporters when it was passed. Assembly Member Catalina Cruz crowed that “We passed a strong, comprehensive bill that not only permits undocumented individuals in the state to obtain driver’s licenses, but also protects their personal data from the federal government.” 

The bill’s sponsor, State Senator Luis Sepulveda, in 2019 declared to New York’s illegal migrants that “We see you. We welcome you with open arms. You are here, and today we give you the right to move freely around this state without fear.” Both Governor Cuomo and Ms. James supported the Green Light Law.

The governor’s press secretary, Avi Small, noted in a statement that his boss “has been clear from day one: she supports deporting violent criminals who break our laws, believes that law-abiding families should not be targets, and will coordinate with federal authorities who have a judicial warrant.” 

Ms. James, in a statement issued following the filing of the suit, contends that “Our state laws, including the Green Light law, protect the rights of all New Yorkers and keep our communities safe. I am prepared to defend our laws, just as I always have.” Ms. James has emerged at the van of states attorneys general suing the Trump administration. She also has refused to drop a $500 million civil fraud verdict she secured against him last year.

Ms. Bondi vowed during her press conference that “If you are a state not complying with federal law, you’re next, get ready.”