City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams.
Photo by William Alatriste/NYC Council
The New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC) and City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams strongly condemned Mayor Eric Adams’ announcement on Tuesday regarding the opening of an ICE office on Rikers Island.
This follows Adams’ coordination and public appearances with “border czar” Thomas Homan and comes after federal prosecutors dropped Adams’ corruption case at the behest of President Donald J. Trump.
“For centuries, immigrants have built the economy and culture of New York City – and for years, our sanctuary laws and policies have protected immigrant New Yorkers from ICE’s predatory enforcement practices. 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,” NYIC’s President and CEO Murad Awawdeh told Caribbean Life.
NYIC is an umbrella policy and advocacy organization representing over 200 immigrant and refugee rights groups throughout New York.
“Adams is making a runaround on the city’s longstanding sanctuary laws – public safety measures that make New York safer for everyone – and attacking the very ideals that make New York the greatest city in the world,” Awawdeh added.
“Now is time for New York’s elected officials to stand firm in protecting our immigrant families, as our mayor has once again proved he is unwilling to,” he continued. “We will work with the NYC City Council with urgency to fight this.”
Speaker Adams noted that First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro issued Executive Order 50 on Tuesday to re-establish the ability for ICE agents to operate on Rikers Island for criminal enforcement.
Speaker Adams said, “This comes on the same day that top IRS officials resigned after the agency took steps to share protected tax records for deportation efforts, departing from decades of practice.”
She said the executive order’s potential was first announced in February following Mayor Adams’ meeting with Homan and after Department of Justice (DOJ) officials interfered in his criminal case.
“This executive order is deeply concerning, particularly given Judge Ho’s recent ruling on Mayor Adams’ corruption case, the attempted quid pro quo, and the series of highly troubling recent events between the Trump administration and our city’s mayor,” Speaker Adams said. “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.
“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,” she added.
“As we have made abundantly clear, Local Law 58 of 2014 has clear guidelines that prohibit the use of office space on Rikers for the enforcement of civil immigration enforcement,” Speaker Adams continued. “The Council is closely reviewing the order and is prepared to defend against violations of the law to protect the safety of all New Yorkers.”
Executive Order 50 notes that Rikers Island is the site of correctional facilities under the jurisdiction of the Department of Corrections (DOC) and currently houses members and associates of designated terrorist organizations, among other individuals incarcerated there.
It also states that “there is historical precedent for federal law enforcement authorities to have office space and personnel on Rikers Island as recently as a decade ago; and Sections 2(m) and 2(p) of Executive Order No. 49, signed March 24, 2025, delegates to the First Deputy Mayor the authority to perform any function, power or duty of the mayor in negotiating, executing and delivering any and all agreements, instruments and other documents necessary or desirable to effectuate any of the matters for any entity within the portfolio of the First Deputy Mayor or the Deputy Mayor for Public Safety, and to perform such other duties as the mayor may direct.”
Mastro said that, upon his appointment as First Deputy Mayor on April 1, 2025, Mayor Adams authorized him “to determine, based on my independent assessment, whether and under what circumstances to permit federal law enforcement authorities to have a presence on Rikers Island, and I have since conducted an independent review and made that assessment.”
He said Local Law 58 of 2014, codified in the New York City Administrative Code at section 9-131, “allows federal immigration authorities to maintain office space on land over which DOC has jurisdiction for purposes unrelated to the enforcement of civil immigration laws.”
Mayor Adams, therefore, authorized that federal law enforcement agencies, including but not limited to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Drug Enforcement Administration, Homeland Security Investigations, and the US Postal Inspection Service, “designate personnel to maintain office space on land over which DOC has jurisdiction for the purpose of criminal enforcement and criminal investigations only.
“Such federal law enforcement personnel shall coordinate with CIB criminal investigations and related intelligence sharing focused on violent criminals and gangs, crimes committed at or facilitated by persons in DOC custody, and drug trafficking,” Adams added.
