Letitia James’ New Legal Attack Against Trump Backfires, Exposes Outrageous Policy

In the wake of a mass shooting in Manhattan that left a police officer and four others dead, New York Attorney General Letitia James is coming under fire for focusing her office on assisting illegal immigrants seeking to obtain welfare benefits.

The shooting by Shane Tamura is the second time in a month that a law enforcement official has been injured or killed in the Big Apple. Earlier this month, an illegal immigrant who had previously been deported shot an off-duty U.S. Border Patrol agent in the face during an apparent robbery attempt. He remains in critical condition.

James, a Democrat, responded to the initial blowback by decrying the Trump administration’s focus on mass deportation, arguing that “chefs, nannies” and otherwise law-abiding illegal immigrants are being swept up by a dragnet-style approach.

More recently, she appeared to praise New York state for allowing illegal immigrants to access the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP or food stamps. James warned that the city’s federal funds were at risk as a result of new federal policies, leading her to join other Democratic attorneys general in suing the Trump administration.

“The SNAP program is a critical lifeline for tens of millions of Americans throughout our country and specifically 2.9 [million] New Yorkers,” she explained in a recent announcement. “Every day, SNAP benefits make it possible for working families to put food on their table, and more than half of those that receive SNAP are families with children, and more than a third have elderly or disabled family members.”

“This administration is attempting to use this program as a tool in their cruel and chaotic targeting of immigrants. It is outrageous. It is unacceptable,” she added.

James was referring to a new suit, filed by 22 states in the Northern District of California, that opposes the Trump administration’s attempt to force low-income families utilizing SNAP to turn over a host of documents, including providing proof of their immigration status over the past five years, CBS News reported.

James claimed that SNAP is being “illegally used to hunt down immigrants and their families.”

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The Democratic prosecutor’s announcement came just hours before a gunman opened fire in midtown Manhattan, killing NYPD officer Didarul Islam, a 36-year-old father of two, and four others before taking his own life. The man left a suicide note claiming to have suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) and blamed the NFL for his diagnosis.

The rampage, directed toward the NFL’s headquarters, led to an hours-long lockdown as New Yorkers scrambled to safety.

Online, critics of James pointed to her latest crusade as another example of her lack of focus on public safety.

“Thank God Letitia James is focused on the real issues, like making sure illegal aliens are allowed to get food stamps,” quipped conservative influencer Alex Lorusso.