NYC Mayor Adams Trying to Wriggle Free from Sanctuary City Restrictions; Has “Same Desire” as Trump Border Czar

NYC Mayor Adams will work with the Trump Administration to remove illegal aliens who have committed crimes. What about sanctuary city laws?

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Yves here. New York City’s Mayor Eric Adams complained early and often about how the Biden liberalization of southern border entry resulted in a migrant influx that taxed city services, particularly to the homeless. That plus his former life as a police officer makes it not surprising that he would like to cooperate with the Trump Administration push to round up “criminal” illegal immigrants. But how does this square with sanctuary city laws? Note that it is not clear that Trump’s campaign will be anywhere near as aggressive as originally signaled. Early talk of “mass deportations” which would take a massive amount of resources, appear to have been scaled back to a still pretty tall order of finding and removing the roughly 1.3 million immigrants with final deportation orders. As for the idea of deporting “criminals,” the numbers are not negligible but does include those who already left the US on their own. Nevertheless, from NBC in 2024: According to ICE’s fiscal year 2023 budget justification, there were 405,786 convicted criminal immigrants on the non-detained docket as of June 5, 2021, just under five months after Trump left office, indicating many crossed during the Trump administration. As of July of this year, according to the data provided by ICE to Rep. Gonzales, over 435,719 convicted criminal immigrants were on ICE’s non-detained docket. As the article below explains, Adams would like to cooperate with acting ICE director on criminal removals. It points out that Adams ducked the question of exactly what “criminal” meant in this context, as in whether it included suspects, who do have due process rights. But it would seem that ICE detention for the purpose of pursing a case against them would not violate due process requirements.1 But Adams is faced with sanctuary city laws enacted under the previous mayor, Bill de Blasio. The article below acknowledges that there are carveouts for convictions of various crimes, as opposed to mere charges. Here is where things presumably get messy. If the crimes are or arguably have a Federal nexus (say the alleged crime was committed in another state), the sanctuary city laws do not allow New York City employees to obstruct justice. Presumably all they can do is not cooperate. But where do you draw that line? Gothamist was less measured that THE CITY was below and led with Adams’ threat to use executive orders to get around the sanctuary city laws. From Gothamist: Mayor Eric Adams on Thursday said he would issue an executive order to amend the city’s sanctuary laws during a fiery 10-minute press conference that followed his meeting with Tom Homan, the incoming ‘border czar’ for the Trump administration. The mayor began his remarks by accusing the press and others of distorting his comments. In recent weeks, Adams has suggested that undocumented New Yorkers are not entitled to due process. He later walked back the statement. He said on Thursday that the city would not be a “safe haven” for those who have “committed crimes,” but neglected to specify whether he was referring to people who had been convicted of a crime, or just charged with one… Adams, who’s faced repeated questions about his stance on sanctuary laws, has been unclear about exactly what additional crimes and circumstances he believes should allow city officials to cooperate with federal immigration officials. On Thursday, he mentioned using executive orders to target repeat offenders. Finally keep in mind that even though Homans has been baring his teeth, his threats against mayors have been limited to one who interfere with the removal of convicted criminals. But as the story below shows, Adams says he will pursue criminals that are engaged in violent activity, which suggests he will go beyond the convicted and will also pursue suspects. By Yoav Gonen, a senior reporter for THE CITY, where he covers NYC government, politics and the police department. Originally published at THE CITY on December 12, 2024 Mayor Eric Adams on Tuesday said he and incoming border czar Tom Homan “have the same desire” when it comes to dealing with migrants, immigrants and the undocumented: “To go after those who are committing repeated violent acts.” The mayor’s comments came roughly an hour after he met at Gracie Mansion with Homan, whom president-elect Donald Trump has tapped to serve in his incoming administration. Following the meeting, Adams took questions from the press for about 10 minutes, saying he was keeping it short because reporters have been distorting his views on the topic. Advocates and political rivals have recently accused Adams of hardening his rhetoric on migrants since Trump won the presidency last month. “We’re going to protect the rights of immigrants in this city that are hard working, giving back to the city in a real way,” said Adams. “We’re not going to be a safe haven for those who commit repeated violent crimes against innocent migrants, immigrants and long-standing New Yorkers.” The city’s ability to cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement was curtailed under Mayor Bill de Blasio, Adams’ predecessor. However, both their administrations have allowed local government agencies to cooperate with ICE in cases where undocumented immigrants are convicted of any of about 170 serious and violent crimes. Adams has not specified what power he would like beyond that existing policy. Adams, who’s been critical of the administration of President Joe Biden for not providing more financial and other assistance for dealing with an influx of migrants, also said his position on immigration enforcement hasn’t changed, despite the growing criticism. Reporters asked Adams Tuesday whether he wants city agencies to cooperate with ICE without having to wait for a conviction of a crime, but he didn’t reply. An administration press release later in the day specifically mentioned convictions, saying the mayor is “exploring lawful processes to remove from New York City individuals who have been convicted of a major felony and lack legal status to remain in the United States.” Adams said he’s also asked the City Hall legal team to see whether they’re allowed to speak with ICE attorneys about how to operationalize his and Homan’s desire to go after violent offenders. He has previously asked his attorneys whether he can address the issue unilaterally through executive orders. Any changes to city law would need approval of the City Council, whose leaders have not indicated a desire to do so. Homan didn’t immediately comment publicly on the meeting. But he said earlier this week in Chicago that he’s been asked to run the biggest deportation effort in the country’s history and that he plans to start in the Midwest city. “If your Chicago mayor doesn’t want to help, he can step aside,” Homan reportedly said at a holiday gathering of a Republican group. “But if he impedes us — if he knowingly harbors or conceals an illegal alien — I will prosecute him.” _____ 1 Even the very liberal New York State allows for suspects to be incarcerated without bail, colloquially “kept on remand,” if they are deemed a flight risk. An illegal alien, with weak/no ties to the community, would be seen as a flight risk. A quibble: Then mayor Ed Koch introduced the first sanctuary city laws in NYC in 1989. “What are the sanctuary laws in New York City? The creation of local sanctuary policies in New York City go back at least to 1989 when then-Mayor Ed Koch signed an executive order creating the city’s first sanctuary policy, which bars city officials from sharing information about immigrants unless it’s regarding a criminal matter, or there’s express written permission by an individual immigrant to do so. The order was reissued by Mayor David Dinkins, and again by Mayor Rudy Guiliani.” https://www.thecity.nyc/2024/02/13/sanctuary-city-explainer-nyc/ That was long before the southern border was opened for 4 years to a flood of unrestricted crossers from who knows where, shipped at govt expense to cities like NYC, in many cases displacing the poor from rental housing because FEMA vouchers guarantee hotel and landlords the housing payments, etc. The quibble: Is mayor Adams trying to ‘wriggle free’ or ‘break free’ of the sanctuary city laws now that the immigration situation has markedly changed? / my 2 cents. Quoth Yves: “… sanctuary city laws do not allow New York City employees to obstruct justice. Presumably all they can do is not cooperate. ” Isn’t that pretty much how sanctuary city laws work anyway? City officials are not expected to deploy SWAT teams to take down BCIS/ICE* raids, the would simply do things like refuse to inform La Migra that, say, there was a in custody for something minor. Jails not honoring generic “ICE holds.” Officers citing and releasing for offenses that COULD have resulted in incarceration, however brief. But maybe I’m misunderstanding how the sanctuary city system works. My license says “Oregon,” not “Federal,” and my immigration experience is generally with folks following the rules. *if I ever become god-emperor, one of my first decrees will be a prohibition on agencies having “kewl” names and acronyms. 🙂 If you think administrations are punctilious about observing the law, particularly ones they wrote and therefore feel some latitude in interpreting, I have a bridge to sell you. The intent was certainly to go way beyond the letter of the law. While varying greatly, each obstruction of justice statute typically requires proof that the defendant 1) knew of a government proceeding and 2) acted with the intent to interfere with the proceeding. https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/obstruction_of_justice While merely withholding information is not considered to be an obstruction of justice, the repeated statements by many NYC officials (before Adams carefully walking the line) says there is clear intent for the city to prevent removal of illegal aliens. The intent, combined with certain actions that are active, as opposed to merely being passive (say not recording information about a detainee that normally would be recorded) could color the interpretation. I expect ICE to press that issue in court (you can anticipate at least some cops are not happy with the sanctuary city law to report to the Feds). So we’ll see in due course. Testing the presidential pardon option market? (I’ve seen variations of this.) here’s Politico;

Adams declared that his own agenda was simple, straightforward and the same as it ever was, declining unsurprisingly to reference that he now stands federally charged with fraud and in potential need of a presidential pardon. First line says Tom Adams. Shome mishtake shurely? Should be Eric. Oops…fixing. During this year’s annual NYC Alfred E. Smith Catholic charity dinner, Trump commiserated with Eric Adams over the grift investigation around Eric Adams Mayoral campaign – unfair!. Eric Adams has hinted that he expects to cooperate with Trump as he seeks a “pardon” . Adams’ poll numbers are pretty low as he seeks reelection. In fact, he’s even floated the idea of reconverting to the Republican Party and running as one. Go figure… It’s unclear that Adams could be re-elected, regardless of party affiliation, given his extraordinarily low ratings. At this point he mostly appears to be kissing up to those who might have a new job for him. The more I hear about Adams, the more befuddled I become. How did this guy get elected mayor? Is he the best NYC Dems could muster? Of course, if we were talking about a place like Martha’s Vineyard, inhabited almost solely by millionaires and billionaires, there would be no issue. The military would swoop in and remove the illegals with no muss and no fuss and no wailing by ‘liberals’ about ‘human rights’. You see, all those poor little billionaires just don’t have the resources to pay for shelters or welfare or added school load burdens etc. Only working class districts have the resources to support endless waves of third world refugees, and if the people living there don’t like it, they’re racist. It’s nice to be rich. Everything you do is automatically wonderful, and everyone opposing you is evil. Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked * Comment * Name * Email *

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