New York City is allowing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to return to its Rikers Island prison following recent demands placed on Mayor Eric Adams by the Trump administration.
First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro signed an executive order late Tuesday that allows federal immigration authorities to operate an office on Rikers Island to help carry out criminal investigations into drug trafficking, organized violence and migrant gang activity plaguing the city.
The order states that the safety of New Yorkers has been jeopardized by violent transnational gangs like MS-13 and Tren de Aragua – gangs designated as foreign terrorist organizations by the Trump administration – and there is a critical need for federal law enforcement to share “real-time” intelligence with the city’s corrections department and police.
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The order allows federal law enforcement agencies to share intelligence with the corrections department and NYPD about criminal gang activity among individuals both inside and outside of custody.
It does not give ICE permission to carry out civil immigration enforcement and arrest people simply for being undocumented.
A 2014 provision significantly restricts ICE from operating in the sanctuary city’s main prison to enforce immigration detainers. That order states that an ICE detainer can only be enforced if it is accompanied by a warrant from a federal judge and if that person had not been convicted of a “violent or serious” crime during the previous five years or was listed on a terrorist database.
Mastro was appointed as first deputy mayor on April 1 and was authorized by Adams to independently assess and decide whether federal law enforcement could be present on Rikers Island. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) were given permission to access the site. ICE is part of HSI.
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The move comes weeks after Adams met with border czar Tom Homan. After the closed-door meeting, Adams said a plan was being worked on to allow ICE onto the prison site.
Adams said the pair had discussed how to combat violent migrant gangs and embedding more New York Police Department officers into federal task forces.
Adams said more than 230,000 migrants had come to the city with approximately $7 billion in taxpayers’ money doled out to house and feed them.
The news comes just days after Adams announced he will run his re-election campaign as an independent instead of participating in the Democratic primary, where he would have faced City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams – who is not related to the mayor – and others.
Adams faces an uphill battle in his re-election campaign. Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced on March 1 that he is running for mayor as well.
Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa is running on the Republican ticket in the deep blue city. Adams easily defeated Sliwa in the city’s mayoral race in 2021.
Last week, federal charges against Adams were dismissed. He has been accused of using his position as mayor to receive luxury travel and illegal campaign contributions from Turkish foreign nationals.
Adams insisted the case was politically motivated and was pursued in retaliation for his criticism of President Joe Biden’s immigration policies.
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