New York City Mayor Eric Adams emphasized the need for increased collaboration between local police and federal immigration authorities, criticizing the current city policies that restrict such communication as harmful to public safety.
The mayor’s recent comments were his strongest criticism yet of the sanctuary laws implemented by New York in the past decade.
These laws aimed to safeguard the city’s immigrant community by restricting local agencies from aiding federal detention and deportation activities.
Expressing his strong opposition to those laws, Adams, a member of the Democratic party, stated that the city’s police department should have the ability to work with the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials in cases involving serious crimes like robbery or gang activity.
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“We need to communicate with ICE, and if ICE decides on deportation, then it should happen,” Adams stated.
“The fact that we are unable to inform ICE about this individual’s history of three robberies and involvement in a gang crew, the fact that we can’t communicate that, is concerning to me,” he expressed.
New York’s sanctuary policies have faced strong criticism from conservatives in the past few weeks due to notable incidents involving migrants, such as a confrontation with law enforcement and a shooting in Times Square.
In the 1980s, the city started restricting collaboration with federal immigration enforcement agents to reassure the city’s significant foreign-born population that they could safely engage with local police.
Supporters of those measures at the time included Mayor Rudy Giuliani, a Republican who emphasized the importance of reducing immigrants’ fear of law enforcement for crime prevention.
Those limits on collaboration have been broadened by later administrations.
Mayor Adams Worries About Predecessor’s Immigration Law
Adams expressed concern about the significant changes in the policy but did not specify which parts of the law he would revoke.
However, according to his spokesperson, Charles Lutvak, the mayor was particularly against two laws that were put into effect in 2014 and 2017 during the tenure of his predecessor, Mayor Bill de Blasio.
This policy restricts the city from complying with immigration authorities’ requests to detain crime suspects unless they have been convicted of specific violent crimes and a judge has issued a removal warrant.
City resources are not allowed to be used to help with immigration enforcement efforts according to the second law.
Supporters of these laws argue that they guarantee immigrants receive due process, preventing them from being detained or deported based solely on suspicion of criminal activity.
Adams is unable to modify the laws without the City Council’s approval, as the progressive leaders have stated they do not intend to reconsider the protections.
Embracing calls to roll back the laws, Adams had given credibility to the questionable notion that migrants were contributing to an increase in crime, as stated by Zachary Ahmad, an attorney with the New York Civil Liberties Union.
“Mayor Adams’ threats to revoke New York’s sanctuary city status will lead to the unfair targeting and demoralization of our immigrant community,” he stated.
Immigrants should not be used as pawns in dangerous political stunts.