NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge on Tuesday upheld New York's so-called Green Light Law, rejecting the federal government's attempt to prevent the state from issuing driver's licenses to people without proving they are in the country legally.

District Judge Anne M. Nardacci, in Albany, ruled that the federal administration — which challenged the law as part of President Donald Trump's crackdown on illegal immigration — had failed to support its claims that state law usurps federal law or that illegally regulates or discriminates against the federal government.

The Justice Department sued the state over the law in February, naming Gov. Kathy Hochul and state Attorney General Letitia James as defendants. At a press conference announcing the lawsuit, federal Attorney General Pam Bondi accused the officials, both Democrats, of prioritizing “illegal aliens over American citizens.”

“As I have said from the beginning, our laws protect the rights of all New Yorkers and keep our communities safe,” James said in a statement Friday. “I will always defend New Yorkers and the rule of law.”

A message was left with the Department of Justice requesting comment.

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Nardacci, appointed to the position by President Joe Biden, a Democrat, wrote in a 23-page opinion that her job was not to evaluate the appropriateness of the Green Light Law as a matter of policy. Rather, it was evaluating whether the Trump administration's arguments established that the law violates the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution, which gives federal laws precedence over state laws.

The federal administration, he wrote, has “failed to prove such a claim.”

The Green Light Law was enacted in part to improve public safety on the streets, since people without licenses sometimes drive anyway, or without passing a driving test. The state also makes it easier for holders of such licenses to obtain auto insurance, thereby reducing accidents involving uninsured drivers.

According to the aforementioned law, people who do not have a valid Social Security number can present alternative forms of identification, such as valid passports and driver's licenses issued in other countries. Applicants must still obtain a permit and pass a driving test to qualify for a “standard driver's license.” The process is not valid for commercial driver's licenses.

The Justice Department's lawsuit alleged that the law was “a frontal attack on federal immigration laws and the federal authorities that administer them.” He highlighted a provision that requires the commissioner of the state Department of Motor Vehicles to inform people who are in the country illegally when a federal immigration agency has requested their information.

In 2020, during Trump's first term, his administration attempted to pressure New York to change the law by preventing anyone in the state from enrolling in trusted traveler programs, which meant they would spend more time in airport security lines.

The governor at the time, Andrew Cuomo, offered to restore federal access to driving records on a limited basis, but said he would not allow immigration agents to see lists of people who had applied for the special licenses available. for immigrants who could not prove legal residency in the United States. The federal government finally restored New Yorkers' access to the Trusted Traveler program after a brief legal dispute.

In the lawsuit dismissed Tuesday, the Trump administration argued that it could be easier to enforce federal immigration priorities if federal authorities had unrestricted access to New York driver information. Nardacci, echoing a ruling by the 2nd U.S. District Court of Appeals in a county clerk's earlier challenge to the law, wrote that such information “remains available to federal immigration authorities” through a court order.

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This story was translated from English by an AP editor with the help of a generative artificial intelligence tool.