Mayor Eric Adams’ administration released a long-awaited executive order late Tuesday giving federal immigration authorities office space on the Rikers Island jail complex, in a significant change to New York’s sanctuary laws.
The order was signed by First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro, rather than by Adams, who recused himself from the decision in an unusual acknowledgment of the perception that he had offered help on deportations in exchange for President Donald Trump’s Justice Department dropping his criminal case. Adams had publicly pledged to issue the order following a February meeting with Trump border czar Tom Homan, after which Homan memorably threatened to be “up [Adams’] butt” if he did not make good on his pledge.
The order states that Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers would be allowed at Rikers because the city’s safety has been “jeopardized by violent transnational gangs and criminal enterprises,” including the Salvadorean group MS-13 and Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. (Immigration advocates have accused Adams and Trump officials of stoking baseless panic about those groups’ relatively small presence in the U.S.)
The order will allow ICE to reopen an office that it maintained on Rikers until 2015, when it was shut down months after the passage of the city sanctuary law that limits cooperation with federal immigration authorities. But it emphasizes that ICE will only be empowered to investigate criminal cases at the jail complex, rather than civil deportation enforcement — where the city is still legally barred from aiding federal law enforcement.
“It is critical that federal law enforcement agencies are able to share intelligence with the [Department of Correction] and NYPD in real-time about criminal gang activity among individuals both inside and outside of DOC custody,” the order reads.
City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams criticized the order as “deeply troubling,” and said the council was prepared to defend against violations of the sanctuary law if the city began to collaborate on civil enforcement. (Mayor Adams has maintained that the city will not assist with civil deportations.)
“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 said in a statement late Tuesday. “The mayor’s decision to compromise the city’s sovereignty, threaten chaos, and risk harm to our families ultimately resulted in the resignation of four deputy mayors.”
Murad Awawdeh, president and CEO of the New York Immigration Coalition, called the order especially troubling given reports that the Trump administration has been detaining immigrants and permanent U.S. residents without regard for the law.
“While Trump is detaining and disappearing people across the country without due process, Mayor Adams and his administration is rolling out the welcome mat for violating New Yorkers’ civil rights with impunity,” Awawdeh said.
The order came one day after Mayor Adams offered some of his strongest defenses yet of President Trump and his immigration policies. During his weekly City Hall press conference, Adams credited Trump with “securing the borders,” something he alleged Joe Biden had failed to accomplish.
“If we’ve got partners on the federal level and all of these agencies that are willing to collaborate with us on criminal behaviors, we say hooray to that,” the mayor said.
