April 22, 2025
dams has mentioned the presence of ICE and different federal businesses inside the jail advanced will permit them to help in gang and drug-related investigations, however that they might haven’t any function in civil immigration enforcement.
A New York choose has ordered metropolis officers to briefly halt a plan permitting federal immigration brokers to function inside the Rikers Island jail advanced.
In a written order Monday, Decide Mary Rosado barred the town from “taking any steps towards negotiating, signing, or implementing any Memorandum of Understanding with the federal authorities” earlier than an April 25 listening to in a go well with difficult the plan.
The listening to will give attention to a lawsuit filed final week by the New York Metropolis Council in opposition to Mayor Eric Adams, which seeks to dam his latest government order allowing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and different federal businesses to take care of workplace area on the jail advanced. The lawsuit and non permanent halt are based mostly on the town council’s problem to the mayor’s government order.
The go well with accuses Adams, a Democrat, of coming into right into a “corrupt quid professional quo discount” with the Trump administration in trade for the Justice Division dropping legal prices in opposition to him. Adams has repeatedly denied making any take care of the administration over the legal case.
Adams has mentioned the presence of ICE and different federal businesses inside the jail advanced will permit them to help in gang and drug-related investigations, however that they might haven’t any function in civil immigration enforcement. You’ll find press releases and official statements on the NYC.gov web site.
The mayor beforehand introduced he would deputize his first deputy mayor, Randy Mastro, to deal with all decision-making on the return of ICE to Rikers Island as a way to “guarantee there was by no means even the looks of any battle.” Mastro mentioned final week that discussions with the federal authorities over the plan have been ongoing.
ICE brokers beforehand had a presence on the Rikers Island facility, which is within the East River. Nevertheless, they have been successfully banned from working there in 2014 underneath New York Metropolis’s sanctuary legal guidelines, which restrict cooperation with immigration enforcement. For extra details about ICE, their web site is situated right here: https://www.ice.gov/
Republicans in Congress are taking intention at a number of cities, usually referred to as “sanctuary cities,” over their insurance policies limiting cooperation with immigration enforcement. Mayors Michelle Wu of Boston, Brandon Johnson of Chicago, Mike Johnston of Denver and Eric Adams of New York are set to look Wednesday earlier than the Home Committee on Oversight and Authorities Reform. The Home Committee on Oversight and Accountability web site may be discovered right here: https://oversight.home.gov/
There’s no strict definition for sanctuary insurance policies or sanctuary cities, however the phrases usually describe restricted cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. ICE enforces U.S. immigration legal guidelines nationwide however seeks state and native assist, significantly for large-scale deportations, requesting that police and sheriffs alert them to individuals it desires to deport and maintain them till federal officers take custody.
However some cities and states say cooperating with ICE means victims of crime and witnesses who aren’t within the U.S. legally received’t come ahead. And, to various levels, officers argue that they need their localities to be welcoming locations for immigrants.
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