Mayor Adams’ workplace issued an govt order late Tuesday permitting ICE brokers to function on Rikers Island — a transfer sought by President Trump’s administration that comes on the heels of the Justice Division securing a dismissal of the mayor’s federal corruption indictment.
Adams first mentioned on Feb. 13 he would signal an govt order to let federal immigration brokers function on Rikers, town’s essential jail housing 1000’s of inmates, most of whom aren’t convicted of any crimes. The announcement — which immigration advocates and native Democrats mentioned flew within the face of native sanctuary metropolis legal guidelines — got here days after Trump’s Justice Division first moved to drop Adams’ corruption case with the understanding it could allow the mayor to help the president’s effort to focus on undocumented New Yorkers for “mass deportations.”
The order, which takes impact instantly, comes after a Manhattan decide final Wednesday begrudgingly authorized the Trump DOJ’s request to drop Adams’ case, whereas lamenting the association “smacks” of a “bargain” wherein the mayor will get his prison dilemma quashed in change for serving to Trump with a political agenda.
Adams didn’t signal Tuesday’s order himself. Randy Mastro, Adams’ newly-minted first deputy mayor, signed the directive, which says brokers from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in addition to another federal businesses, such because the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration, can now preserve workplaces on Rikers “for the purpose of criminal enforcement and criminal investigations only.”
In a press release, Adams’ workplace mentioned the mayor delegated the order to Mastro to make sure “trust” amongst New Yorkers, however that rationalization did little to persuade Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, whose Democrat-controlled chamber expanded town’s sanctuary legal guidelines in 2014 to bar ICE from Rikers.
“It is hard not to see this action as connected to the dismissal of the mayor’s case and his willingness to cooperate with Trump’s extreme deportation agenda that is removing residents without justification or due process,” Speaker Adams, who’s operating for mayor this 12 months, mentioned in a press release wherein she additionally vowed her chamber is “closely reviewing the order, and is prepared to defend against violations of the law to protect the safety of all New Yorkers.”
Beneath sanctuary legal guidelines, metropolis regulation enforcement businesses can solely cooperate with federal immigration authorities in circumstances pertaining to 170 severe crimes, together with homicide and rape.
Acknowledging the sanctuary legal guidelines, which bar metropolis assets from being utilized in civil deportation proceedings, Mastro’s order says any feds on Rikers should enter into authorized agreements with Adams’ administration affirming their actions can solely be “limited to purposes unrelated to the enforcement of civil immigration laws.”
In keeping with Mastro’s order, Rikers “currently houses members and associates of designated terrorist organizations.” The missive says it’s “critical” federal authorities be allowed to cooperate with the NYPD and different metropolis businesses relating to going after such “violent criminals.”
Trump not too long ago designated Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang, as a “foreign terrorist organization” as a part of a presidential govt order that has raised authorized issues.
Mastro’s order additionally reveals Adams tasked the primary deputy instantly upon his April 1 appointment with wanting into “whether and under what circumstances to permit federal law enforcement authorities to have a presence on Rikers Island.” Beforehand, Adams solely mentioned his Legislation Division was engaged on the order.
Although Mastro’s order guarantees feds on Rikers can solely have interaction in prison investigations, Zach Ahmad, a senior coverage counsel on the New York Civil Liberties Union, mentioned the directive “opens the door to unlawful collusion between local law enforcement and federal immigration officials in violation of our city’s well-established sanctuary protections.”
“Crime in New York City is down — and there was never any evidence that a surge in crime was caused by immigrants,” mentioned Ahmad, whose group has a historical past of suing each the Adams and Trump administrations. “New Yorkers see this for what it is: Mayor Adams skirting the City Council, cozying up to Trump, and putting immigrant New Yorkers in harm’s way.”
