Judge tosses Trump administration lawsuit over New York City ‘sanctuary’ laws

A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit brought by the Trump administration to block New York City laws that limit cooperation with federal immigration enforcement, saying the government lacked a valid basis to sue.

U.S. District ​Judge Ramon Reyes in Brooklyn said the Trump administration cannot challenge a ⁠city law that restricts police from detaining immigrants at ​the request of federal immigration authorities, Reuters reported Thursday .

“The federal government came to court seeking to force New York City to turn its public servants into deportation agents and divert our resources toward carrying out ICE’s cruel agenda,” said New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani in a written statement following the ruling. “Today, they lost.”

Last year in July, the Trump administration filed the lawsuit in a federal District Court in Brooklyn claiming that the city’s policies violate the supremacy clause of the Constitution, which gives federal laws precedence over state laws, The New York Times reported . Reyes rejected those arguments, declaring the federal government cannot force local ​governments to ⁠assist with immigration enforcement, the Reuters report said.

“Our local laws make New York City safer. They allow us to focus our resources on protecting and serving our communities and ensuring that every New Yorker can turn to their City government without fear that asking for help will make them a target for deportation,” the mayor said in his statement.

In the ruling, the judge also supported the validity of the city laws restricting local authorities from sharing release dates, ​whereabouts or other custody information about immigrants as federal law does not require state and local ‌governments ⁠to share that information, according to the Reuters report.

The ruling comes a week after a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer shot a man in New York City in the Bronx’s Marble Hill neighborhood. The Department of Homeland Security said the 28-year-old man entered the country illegally and had a prior criminal conviction for grand larceny, along with multiple prior arrests for assault, robbery, possession of drugs and weapons possession.

Following the incident, Mamdani in a social media post called it “an incredibly serious situation.”

“I have called the President; when we speak I will demand that he ends all ICE enforcement actions in our city,” he wrote. “I will not stand by while ICE agents terrorize our communities.”