At a Tuesday press conference at New York’s City Hall, Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat, called for changes to the city’s “sanctuary city” policy, which forbids local authorities from cooperating with federal law agencies such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to remove trouble-making illegal immigrants.
“I want to go back to the standards of the previous mayors who, I believe, subscribed to my belief that people who are suspected of committing serious crimes in this city should be held accountable,” Adams said.
New York first claimed “sanctuary city” status in the 1980s under then-Mayor Ed Koch. The original policy simply barred city agencies from sharing information with federal authorities such as ICE. Subsequent mayors expanded the policy, with former mayor Bill DeBlasio in 2014 taking the step to remove ICE from Department of Corrections facilities and barring the police department or the city’s jails from honoring detainer requests from ICE.
And now, because of the recent border crisis created by the Biden administration, New York has been inundated with illegal immigrants, largely due to the city’s sanctuary status.
The New York Times reports that over 150,000 illegal immigrants have invaded the Big Apple since the spring of 2022. Recent high-profile crime incidents involving illegals may be spurring Adams to request the change.
For instance, in January, a group of eight illegal immigrants attacked and severely beat two police officers in Times Square. In early February, a 15-year-old illegal immigrant was accused of shooting a tourist and firing at an officer who responded. In addition, a suspected Venezuelan gang is sought in connection with the robbery of more than sixty women.
Adams wants the ability to remove such criminals from his city.
“The overwhelming amount of migrants that are here, they want to work; I still don’t understand why the federal government’s not allowing them to work,” Adams said. “They need to have the right to work like all of us that have come to this country had the ability to do so.”
“But those small numbers that are committing crimes,” the mayor explained. “We need to modify the sanctuary city law that if you commit a felony, a violent act, we should be able to turn you over to [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] and have you deported. It is a right to live in this city, and you should not be committing crimes in our city.”
The city’s lax enforcement of immigration laws has caused other states some trepidation when dealing with New York City. Recently, in Arizona, Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell refused to extradite a murder suspect to New York City because of NY DA Alvin Bragg’s reputation for lenience and New York’s criminal-friendly bail laws.
Mitchell made the decision specifically because several illegal immigrants involved in a high-profile violent crime in New York City ended up in her jurisdiction, where they needed to be detained.
“And again, this is not casting aspersions on NYPD, but … it was just a couple of weeks ago that some of the illegal immigrants that were in New York City who beat up on police officers were let go,” Mitchell stated. “They were flipping the camera off as they walked out of jail, and guess where they ended up? Four of them ended up in Maricopa County, and they had to be taken into custody here.”
Some New York politicians are supportive of Adams, but, unfortunately, it’s going to be an uphill battle to significantly alter the sanctuary-city policy in the left-wing stronghold.
“We are introducing a bill, a total repeal of the 2011, 2014, 2017 sanctuary city laws,” said NYC Councilman Joe Borelli. “I don’t anticipate much support from the other side unfortunately. They should come back with their own new version of the city’s sanctuary city in noncompliance with ICE rules that allows the mayor to properly get people out of here who are committing violent and repeated crimes.”
Defenders of illegal immigrants, of course, were unnerved by Adams’ statement.
“What Mayor Eric Adams seeks would result in local law enforcement being able to transfer New Yorkers merely suspected of a crime to ICE, upending local criminal court proceedings while perpetuating family separation and dividing communities,” the Legal Aid Society said in a statement.
As for ICE, they would like a chance to work in the city.
“We welcome the opportunity to work with Mayor Adams and New York City officials and look forward to forging a mutually beneficial path that benefits all New Yorkers,” said New York City ICE Field Office Director Kenneth Genalo.
To learn more about America’s illegal-alien invasion — and what can be done to stop it — click here.
