{"id":2836,"date":"2025-04-15T12:28:14","date_gmt":"2025-04-15T16:28:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/press\/?p=2836"},"modified":"2025-04-15T12:28:14","modified_gmt":"2025-04-15T16:28:14","slug":"new-york-city-council-files-lawsuit-to-stop-mayor-adams-illegal-executive-order-inviting-president-trumps-ice-into-rikers-to-set-up-office-seeking-courts-immediate-halt-of","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/press\/2025\/04\/15\/2836\/","title":{"rendered":"New York City Council Files Lawsuit to Stop Mayor Adams\u2019 Illegal Executive Order Inviting President Trump\u2019s ICE into Rikers to Set Up Office, Seeking Court\u2019s Immediate Halt of Activity"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lawsuit contends mayor\u2019s action is unlawful, tainted by conflict of interest created by quid pro quo related to his federal corruption case, and would undermine safety of all New Yorkers<\/em><\/p>\n

City Hall, NY \u2013<\/strong> Today, the New York City Council filed a lawsuit, requesting a temporary restraining order (TRO) and a preliminary injunction, against Mayor Eric Adams\u2019 Executive Order 50<\/a> to invite the Trump administration\u2019s ICE to operate an office in Rikers, which was issued by First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro on April 8. The lawsuit contends that the executive order is unlawful, tainted by the conflict of interest created by the corrupt bargain the mayor entered into \u2013 his personal freedom in exchange for an ICE office. The law is clear that the mayor is unable to cure that conflict of interest simply by delegating his authority to open an ICE office to Deputy Mayor Mastro. In seeking an immediate halt of any associated activity, the lawsuit outlines how the unlawful action would undermine public safety in New York City by eroding trust between local government, including local law enforcement, and New Yorkers. It also argues that the mayor never delegated the specified duty to Mastro, as required by the City Charter.<\/p>\n

The Council\u2019s legal filing can be found here:<\/p>\n

Petition<\/a><\/p>\n

Memo<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cOnce again, this City Council is standing firm to protect the rights and safety of all New Yorkers against attacks by the Trump administration\u2014because the city\u2019s mayor won\u2019t stop placing his own personal interests ahead of the people of our city,\u201d said Speaker Adrienne Adams<\/strong>. \u201cMayor Eric Adams clearly indicated his intention for this executive order when the Trump administration attempted to dismiss his corruption case in what prosecutors and Judge Ho saw as a quid pro quo. The mayor has compromised our city\u2019s sovereignty and is now threatening the safety of all New Yorkers, which is why we are filing this lawsuit to halt his illegal order that he shamelessly previewed on the Fox News couch with Tom Homan. When New Yorkers are afraid of cooperating with our city\u2019s own police and discouraged from reporting crime and seeking help, it makes everyone in our city less safe. This is a naked attempt by Eric Adams to fulfill his end of the bargain for special treatment he received from the Trump administration. New York cannot afford its mayor colluding with the Trump administration to violate the law, and this lawsuit looks to the court to uphold the basic standard of democracy, even if our mayor won\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the same day that the Trump administration\u2019s Department of Justice ordered Mayor Adams\u2019 federal corruption case dismissed without prejudice, the mayor met with Trump\u2019s border czar Tom Homan and expressed his intention to invite ICE onto Rikers via executive order. The political intervention in the corruption case led several top federal prosecutors to resign and assert the actions amounted to a quid pro quo.  Federal Judge Dale Ho, who declined to immediately dismiss the case and sought independent arguments, indicated that \u201cEverything here smacks of a bargain: dismissal of the indictment in exchange for immigration policy concessions.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Executive Order pertains to Local Law 58 of 2014 that prevents federal immigration authorities from maintaining an office on Rikers Island. Last week, the Council passed Resolution 836<\/a>, authorizing Speaker Adams to take legal action to defend against the mayoral administration\u2019s violation of Sanctuary Laws and the Trump Administration\u2019s attacks on the City of New York.<\/p>\n

\u201cMayor Adams\u2019 willingness to trade away our city\u2019s safety in exchange for personal protection isn\u2019t just outrageous\u2014it\u2019s dangerous and unlawful,\u201d said Deputy Speaker Diana Ayala<\/strong>. \u201cNew Yorkers deserve a mayor that defends our city and communities, not one that invites chaos upon us. Speaker Adrienne Adams and the Council are doing exactly what this moment demands: standing up for New Yorkers against a mayor failing to be accountable to the people of our city.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPersonal political deals should never dictate city policy, especially when they threaten rights as fundamental as due process and public safety,\u201d said Council Member Sandy Nurse, Chair of the Committee on Criminal Justice<\/strong>. \u201cThis unlawful executive order sets a dangerous precedent and makes our city less safe. Handing the keys of New York City government over to the Trump administration to dismantle New Yorkers\u2019 rights cannot be allowed. We aren\u2019t standing by while this corrupt deal unfolds \u2013 we will be fighting this in court and defending the integrity of our laws.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis isn\u2019t public safety\u2014it\u2019s political blackmail,\u201d said Council Member Alexa Avil\u00e9s, Chair of the Committee on Immigration<\/strong>. \u201cTurning Rikers into an outpost for the Trump administration\u2019s extreme agenda has nothing to do with protecting New Yorkers and everything to do with the Mayor protecting himself. Selling out our city\u2019s diverse immigrant communities that built this city to Trump will make every New Yorker less safe. The Council is taking this fight to court to defend our city when the mayor won\u2019t and calling this what it is: a disgraceful and blatant quid pro quo.\u201d<\/p>\n

Excerpt from the Petition<\/em><\/strong>:<\/p>\n

\u201cExecutive Order 50 is the poisoned fruit of Mayor Adams\u2019s deal with the Trump Administration: if the Mayor cooperated with the administration\u2019s immigration enforcement priorities, including by permitting ICE to operate on Rikers, the charges against him would be dismissed. Although it purports to be the product of Mastro\u2019s \u201cindependent assessment, whether and under what circumstances to permit federal law enforcement authorities to have a presence on Rikers Island,\u201d all available evidence confirms that the issuance of Executive Order 50 was the outcome demanded by the resolution of the Mayor\u2019s criminal case, rather than the product of any \u201cindependent assessment\u201d by Mastro.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Mayor\u2019s decision to have Mastro issue the EO on April 8, 2025, does not magically cleanse the taint of conflict from the order. <\/p>\n

\u201cNeither the Mayor nor Mastro claim that the Mayor was walled off from the decision-making process in any manner.  To the contrary, when asked, the Mayor explicitly denied that he was \u201crecused\u201d from the decision.\u201d (pages 15 and 16)<\/p>\n

Excerpt from the Petition:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cNotably, Executive Order 50 allows at least six other federal agencies besides ICE to open offices at city jails like Rikers\u2014and the majority of those agencies have been recently deputized by the Trump Administration to conduct civil immigration enforcement. Hundreds of agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Homeland Security Investigations are now charged with carrying out the civil immigration law enforcement. To assume, then, that federal agents from these agencies would limit themselves to criminal investigatory work if permitted on Rikers is willfully blind. Even if the Mayor and Mastro intend for ICE to limit its activities on Rikers to criminal enforcement, as permitted under the City\u2019s sanctuary laws, once ICE re-establishes a presence on the island, there is no reason to believe it will not use the opportunity to supercharge President Trump\u2019s mass deportation agenda. Numerous experts have noted that the Mastro Executive Order gives ICE all of the tools it needs to carry out its civil deportation agenda. For example, Executive Order 50 contemplates that the DOC intelligence bureau partnering with the federal government to coordinate investigations and share information, but once information is shared, it cannot be un-learned\u2014the bell cannot be unrung\u2014and federal agents will be able to use that information beyond its intended purpose, including for civil immigration enforcement.\u201d (pages 22 and 23)<\/p>\n

Excerpt from the Petition:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cFurthermore, ICE has long been notorious for sweeping unintended targets into its enforcement activities, meaning that allowing ICE back onto Rikers for the purpose of criminal investigation purposes is only a short and slippery slope to civil immigration enforcement.  In fact, ICE routinely arrests immigrants who simply happen to be in the vicinity of its intended target, despite lacking a warrant or even probable cause with respect to those \u201ccollateral\u201d arrestees. And it continues to do so in violation of a federal court order that limited this practice in 2022 but which it has flagrantly disregarded.\u201d (pages 24 and 25)<\/p>\n

Excerpts from the Memo<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Mayor cut a deal to secure his personal freedom in exchange for official mayoral actions that would abet President Trump\u2019s mass deportation agenda. Such a quid pro quo deal, as the threat of future federal criminal charges create a conflict of interest that prevents the Mayor from himself issuing any executive orders about ICE on Rikers. That conflict was not cured by the Mayor\u2019s \u201cdelegation\u201d of authority to Mastro because, as a matter of law, a delegation without a recusal fails to cure a conflict. Accordingly, Mastro\u2019s resulting executive order was tainted by the Mayor\u2019s conflict and must be annulled.\u201d (page 7)<\/p>\n

\u201cIndiscriminate removals harm more than just those who are deported, as immigrant New Yorkers account for roughly 38% of our city\u2019s total population and often have a U.S. citizen spouse or children. And once ICE gets started, courts and City officials will be largely powerless to stop these harms from cascading. The impacts will not be confined to Rikers: enabling ICE to pursue its aggressive immigration on Rikers will irreparably erode the trust between local government and the New York residents that it serves.\u201d (page 16)<\/p>\n

###<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lawsuit contends mayor\u2019s action is unlawful, tainted by conflict of interest created by quid pro quo related to his federal corruption case, and would undermine safety of all New Yorkers<\/em><\/p>\n

City Hall, NY \u2013<\/strong> Today, the New York City Council filed a lawsuit, requesting a temporary restraining order (TRO) and a preliminary injunction, against Mayor Eric Adams\u2019 Executive Order 50<\/a> to invite the Trump administration\u2019s ICE to operate an office in Rikers, which was issued by First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro on April 8.<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

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