On Tuesday, New York Legal professional Normal Letitia James condemned the Trump administration’s cuts to the World Commerce Middle Well being Program.
“Recklessly reducing the staffing, funding, and sources that guarantee 9/11 first responders and survivors get the well being care they want is flat-out merciless,” James stated. “Hundreds of New Yorkers made heroic sacrifices to avoid wasting others throughout this assault and are experiencing lifelong well being impacts because of this.
“These heroes deserve the utmost respect and care from their authorities,” she added. “These cuts are unacceptable and have to be reversed.”
Created in 2011, James stated the World Commerce Middle Well being Program supplies medical therapy for greater than 132,000 9/11 survivors, first responders, and different impacted people.
Current experiences have revealed that the Trump administration’s buyout presents for federal workers and the mass firing of probationary civil service employees have led to vital staffing cuts at federal healthcare applications, together with the World Commerce Middle Well being Program.
“Because of these cuts, advocates for the 9/11 group report that the World Commerce Middle Well being Program has seen a 20 % discount in employees, which is able to undermine efforts to assist sufferers,” the New York Legal professional Normal stated.
Meantime, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and James say they’re “not backing down” in defending a “frivolous” lawsuit by US Legal professional Normal Pam Bondi over President Trump’s mass deportation agenda.
Bondi introduced on Wednesday that Trump’s Division of Justice (DOJ) is suing New York State—together with Hochul, James, and the New York Division of Motor Automobile (DMV) Commissioner—for restricted native collusion with the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) company.
This lawsuit features a problem to New York’s Inexperienced Gentle regulation, which permits New Yorkers, no matter immigration standing, to acquire a driver’s license.
“We did it to Illinois. Strike one. Strike two is New York, and when you’re a state not complying with federal regulation? You’re subsequent,” Bondi declared in a televised press convention on Wednesday.
However Hochul described the lawsuit as “all smoke and mirrors.”
“Earlier at this time, Legal professional Normal Pam Bondi marched in entrance of the tv cameras for a dramatic media briefing to announce she was submitting fees in opposition to New York State associated to our immigration legal guidelines. Hours later, when authorized papers have been shared with reporters, we discovered this was smoke and mirrors: the Division of Justice was submitting a routine civil motion a few regulation handed in 2019 that has been upheld by the courts again and again,“ stated Hochul in a press release on Wednesday.
“Listed here are the info: Our present legal guidelines permit federal immigration officers to entry any DMV database with a judicial warrant,“ she added. “That’s a commonsense method that almost all New Yorkers assist. However there’s no method I’m letting federal brokers, or Elon Musk’s shadowy DOGE (so-called Division of Authorities Effectivity) operation, get unfettered entry to the non-public information of any New Yorker within the DMV system like 16-year-old children studying to drive and different susceptible individuals.
“New York is proud that immigrants from throughout the globe come right here trying to find a greater life — individuals like my grandparents who left Eire in search of the American dream,“ the governor continued. “We welcome law-abiding people who need to work, pay taxes, and contribute to our communities whereas, on the similar time, defending the general public security of all New Yorkers by cracking down on violent criminals.
“We anticipate Pam Bondi’s nugatory, publicity-driven lawsuit to be a complete failure, identical to all of the others,“ Hochul stated. “Let me be clear: New York just isn’t backing down.”
In a terse assertion, James stated: “Our state legal guidelines, together with the Inexperienced Gentle regulation, shield the rights of all New Yorkers and hold our communities protected.
“I am ready to defend our legal guidelines, simply as I all the time have,“ she affirmed.
Murad Awawdeh, president and chief govt officer of the New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC), described Bondi’s lawsuit as “an affront to the tenth Modification, which clearly permits States to make and observe their personal legal guidelines.
“It would work when Trump bullies Mayor Eric Adams, however he has a a lot poorer monitor report in opposition to fighters for the general public good, like our NYS Legal professional Normal Leticia James, who has overwhelmingly defeated Trump’s earlier assaults on New York,“ Awawdeh, whose umbrella group represents over 200 immigrant advocacy group in New York State, informed Caribbean Life.
“New York’s Inexperienced Gentle regulation has been an important public security measure since 2019, permitting for a better diploma of accountability and safety of each New Yorker utilizing our shared roadways,“ he added. “If there was ever a time for New York elected officers to face up for the legal guidelines that hold all New Yorkers protected, it’s now.
“New York should not be intimidated into submitting to Trump’s merciless mass deportation agenda, which is able to separate households, destabilize our communities, and wreak havoc on our economic system,“ Awawdeh continued.
On Tuesday, Adams insisted that he broke no regulation, as Caribbean and different immigration advocates have strongly condemned Trump for intervening in a federal corruption case in opposition to the mayor.
Trump’s DOJ has instructed federal prosecutors within the Southern District Court docket of New York to rescind the costs in opposition to Adams.
Federal prosecutors had indicted the mayor on 5 counts involving bribery conspiracy, fraud, and soliciting unlawful overseas marketing campaign donations.
In a memo dispatched to federal prosecutors, Emil Bove, an erstwhile prosecutor within the Southern District Court docket of New York and the DOJ’s appearing second-in-command, instructed that there might be “no additional concentrating on of Mayor Adams or further investigative steps” for now.
In response to the directive, the mayor informed New Yorkers in an tackle on Tuesday that he was relieved that the case was lastly over, “ending a months-long saga that put me, my household, and this metropolis by means of an pointless ordeal.
“As I stated from the outset, I by no means broke the regulation, and I by no means would,“ he stated. “I’d by no means put any private profit above my solemn duty as your mayor.
“It’s value repeating the info as a result of many sensational and false claims have been made,“ he added. “So let me be clear, I by no means requested anybody to interrupt the regulation on my behalf or on behalf of my marketing campaign, by no means. And I completely by no means traded my energy as an elected official for any private profit.“
Nevertheless, Awawdeh blasted Trump’s intervention within the corruption case in opposition to the mayor.
He accused Adams of betraying Caribbean and different immigrant communities by cozying as much as Trump amid the president’s mass deportation agenda.
“There isn’t any longer any doubt: Eric Adams has offered out immigrant New Yorkers to maintain himself out of jail,“ Awawdeh informed Caribbean Life. “And he’ll proceed to promote out immigrants and all of New York Metropolis to repay his debt to Trump.
“The extremely uncommon intervention of Trump’s DOJ into this prosecution is additional proof that the president has no regard for justice and can cease at nothing to spare his political allies from dealing with accountability,“ he added.
“New Yorkers will hold paying the worth for the mayor’s callous disregard for our legal guidelines, as Adams seems out for his personal future as a substitute of the security and well-being of each New Yorker,“ Awawdeh continued.
The New York Civil Liberties Union additionally stated, “By dismissing the costs with out prejudice, the Trump administration retains the choice to refile fees and retains open a channel to exert political strain.
“By giving floor to Trump’s merciless immigration designs, Adams is betraying our communities,“ it added in a press release. “New Yorkers should ponder whether the mayor’s private pursuits and town’s at the moment are in indefinite battle.”
Nevertheless, the mayor’s lawyer, Alex Spiro, welcomed the DOJ’s motion.
“I stated from the outset, the mayor is harmless,“ he stated briefly. “And he would prevail. At this time, he has.”
