California Attorney General Rob Bonta has sued the Trump administration over the firing of nearly half of all workers at the U.S. Department of Education.

The Trump administration cut about half the agency’s work force, saying the move would enable it to deliver services more effectively. The attorneys general called the layoffs “reckless and illegal.”

The lawsuit alleges the administration is gutting the agency as a way to implement an unlawful plan to dismantle the department, and seeks a court order to stop it.