House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) vowed on Wednesday to fight the Trump administration’s efforts to sue California over the state’s sanctuary laws, declaring that Californians would not cave to “intimidation tactics.”
“The people of California will not be bowed by the Trump Administration’s brazen aggression and intimidation tactics,” Pelosi tweeted. “We will fight this sham lawsuit and will fight all cowardly attacks on our immigrant communities.”
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The Justice Department filed a lawsuit on Tuesday aiming to block three laws passed by California lawmakers in recent months, arguing in court documents that those laws are intended to obstruct federal officials from enforcing immigration laws.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions delivered a scathing assessment of the laws on Wednesday, accusing California of blatantly trying to undermine the authority of the federal government.
“There is no nullification. There is no secession,” Sessions said during a speech in Sacramento on Wednesday. “Federal law is the supreme law of the land.”
Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) accused Sessions and President Trump of trying to “bully” her home state, but asserted that their efforts would ultimately fall flat.
“Trump and Sessions think they can bully California — but it won’t work,” Harris wrote on Twitter.
The Justice Department’s move to sue California marked its most aggressive effort yet to clamp down on states that have acted in opposition to Trump’s hard-line stance on immigration.