New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) said it’s “unfortunate” that she has to comfort citizens in her state who live in fear due to “reckless” government.
“It’s unfortunate that I have to hold countless numbers of individuals in my arms crying because we have a government right now that is reckless,” James said during a Tuesday appearance on MSNBC’s “The Reid Out.”
Earlier in the segment, James highlighted her interactions with local residents who are afraid of being deported in lieu of the Trump administration’s new policies.
“I cannot tell you, Joy, the number of individuals who’ve come up to me crying because they are concerned about our government, who are concerned about being deported for doing absolutely nothing,” James told Joy Reid.
“Individuals who have been in this country and who have contributed to our economy, individuals who work each and every day, who know no other country but the United States. Individuals that are fleeing dangerous situations, fleeing violence in their country, who only come here because they want the same thing that you and I want, and that is to make sure that our family is safe and to contribute to these United States,” she added.
President Trump has signed a series of executive orders which approve of Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids at churches and schools in addition to an effort to deny birthright citizenship to the children of illegal immigrants.
James joined a lawsuit against the president for the latter measure, which fellow Democratic attorneys general have deemed unconstitutional.
“President Trump now seeks to abrogate this well-established and longstanding Constitutional principle by executive fiat,” one group of states wrote in their complaint.
“The principle of birthright citizenship has been enshrined in the Constitution for more than 150 years. The Citizenship Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment unambiguously and expressly confers citizenship on ‘[a]ll persons born’ in and ‘subject to the jurisdiction’ of the United States.”
James is also leading an effort to sue the president over a federal grant freeze enacted by a separate directive.
“This policy is reckless, dangerous, illegal and unconstitutional,” James said at a press conference on Monday in New York. “The president does not get to decide which laws to enforce and for whom.”
