The Trump Justice Department sued New York on Thursday over its sanctuary law that aims to block federal officers from making immigration arrests around state courthouses.

New York is also trying to hinder the sharing of information with federal immigration officers.

The Justice Department announced the lawsuit just as Gov. Kathy Hochul appeared before Congress to testify about her state’s sanctuary status.

“Lawless sanctuary city policies are the root cause of the violence that Americans have seen in California, and New York state is similarly employing sanctuary city policies to prevent illegal aliens from apprehension,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said.

Ms. Hochul, in the hearing, blamed the immigration chaos of the last four years on a “broken border” but said President Trump’s approach of “indiscriminate roundups” was also wrong.

She said New York cooperates on criminal matters, having turned over 1,300 convicted criminal migrants to Homeland Security.

But most immigration enforcement happens under civil immigration law, and she said New York won’t cooperate with that.

“We’re doing our part, but we can’t be expected to fix the broken immigration system,” she said.

Sanctuary jurisdictions say making arrests near courthouses can frighten people from taking part in cases, such as serving as witnesses.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement leaders have said they don’t target witnesses but add that courthouses are critical locations for nabbing deportation targets because they’re secure.

The Justice Department in February sued New York over another provision of law that bars federal immigration officers from gaining access to state motor vehicle bureau records.

That case is still pending.

• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.