Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Photo: Seth Wenig/AP

Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Attorney General Letitia James announced plans Friday to sue the Trump Administration over its move this week to ban thousands of New Yorkers from enrolling in federal programs intended to expedite international travel.

Cuomo, a Democrat who is serving his third term in office, called the Department of Homeland Security's decision to revoke New York's participation in the Trusted Traveler programs an "arbitrary and capricious" policy that would end up hurting hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers just to make a political point.

Ken Cuccinelli, the acting deputy secretary of DHS, told reporters Thursday that his department had stopped taking applications and renewals for the programs, which are designed to speed up screenings at U.S. airports and ports of entry.

Cuccinelli said the new federal policy was in response to New York's "Green Light" law, which took effect in December and allows undocumented immigrants to apply for driver's licenses. It also bars state officials at the Department of Motor Vehicles from providing data to federal immigration authorities without a court order.

"President Trump certainly made it clear that if sanctuary city politicians—and sanctuary state, as well—won't keep their people safe, we'll do the best we can to keep them safe," Cuccinelli said, according to NPR.

The announcement came one day after Trump was acquitted in the Republican-controlled Senate on charges of obstruction and abusing his power in an alleged scheme to pressure Ukraine's president to announce investigations into his political Joe Biden and his son Hunter, who sat on the board of a Ukrainian gas company.

On Friday, Cuomo said the administration's latest move directed at New York mirrored similar abuses underlying the congressional impeachment inquiry and said a lawsuit would be coming "forthwith."

"There is supposed to be a line between politics and government. You're not supposed to be using government as a political tool. That's the point of Ukraine," Cuomo said.

"It is abuse of power. It is extortion and it is exactly what you did at Ukraine, and you didn't learn the lesson because you believe you were found innocent. You weren't. You were acquitted. You were not exonerated," he continued.

In a her own statement, James said that New York had been "singled out" despite 13 other states and the District of Columbia having passed laws comparable to New York's, and she vowed a legal fight against the "the president's shortsighted crusade against his former home."

"This is political retribution, plain and simple, and while the president may want to punish New York for standing up to his xenophobic policies, we will not back down," James said.

"We will not allow New Yorkers to be targeted or bullied by an authoritarian thug," she said.

DHS on Friday referred to a statement by Acting Secretary Chad Wolf, who said the decision had "everything to do" with a "breakdown in information sharing" by New York state officials. Wolf said that he talked to Cuomo on Thursday and that he "would have welcomed" a discussion before New York implemented its Green Light law.

"I made clear to the governor that if the State of New York restores access to mission-critical law enforcement information, then New Yorkers will once again be able to enroll in CPB Trusted Traveler programs," Wolf said.

"The reality is the New York law has a crippling impact on the integrity of these travel programs, and without access to New York record systems, our personnel are unable to conduct risk assessments to screen-out criminal histories," Wolf said.

When contacted Friday, DHS did not provide additional comment and directed inquiries to the U.S. Justice Department, which declined to comment.

Cuomo also called out U.S. Reps. Tom Reed and Lee Zeldin, two Republican congressmen who the administration cited as supporting the measure. In a statement Thursday, Reed said the state law was the product of "one-party extremist control in Albany hurting New Yorkers," and called for its immediate repeal.

"The Department of Homeland Security provides many services to New York not provided to other states. Albany must repeal the Green Light Law before the federal government is forced to take further action," he said.

The latest scuffle also comes amid a broader dispute between the president and his former home state, Trump and his businesses have come under legal scrutiny by James and local prosecutors' offices. Last year, Trump renounced his New York citizenship and changed his official residence to Florida, saying he had been "treated very badly by the political leaders of both the city and state."

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