State Supreme Court Justice Mary Rosado signed a temporary restraining order prohibiting Adams from carrying out an executive action allowing ICE to reestablish an office on Rikers Island. Her order responds to the New York City Council’s recent lawsuit against Adams that seeks to bar the mayor from aiding ICE.
Adams unlawfully cooperated with the Trump administration to target illegal immigrants, the plaintiffs alleged, in exchange for the federal government dropping its corruption case against the mayor.
“City Hall and all other New York City government officials, officers, personnel, and agencies are prohibited from taking any steps toward negotiating, signing, or implementing any Memorandum of Understanding with the federal government regarding federal law enforcement presence on Department of Correction property,” Rosado wrote.
Adams and the City Council will appear before her to present their respective arguments on Friday morning, when she could choose to extend or lift the temporary order.
The mayor, who is engaged in a tough battle for reelection, first announced he would allow federal immigration authorities into the Big Apple’s largest criminal detention center in February. ICE had previously operated on Rikers Island but was removed from the detention center after then-Mayor Bill de Blasio expanded sanctuary city laws in 2014.
“We are now working on implementing an executive order that will reestablish the ability for ICE agents to operate on Rikers Island — as was the case for 20 years — but now, instead, ICE agents would specifically be focused on assisting the correctional intelligence bureau in their criminal investigations, in particular those focused on violent criminals and gangs,” Adams said in February, marking a reversal of de Blasio’s policies.
“Since the spring of 2022, New York City has been forced to shoulder the burden of a national humanitarian crisis where more than 230,000 migrants have come to our city seeking support, at a cost of approximately $7 billion, with little help from the previous administration,” he continued. “That is why I have been clear that I want to work with the new federal administration, not war with them, to find common ground and make better the lives of New Yorkers.”
As I have always said, immigrants have been crucial in building our city and will continue to be key to our future success, but we must fix our long-broken immigration system. pic.twitter.com/OyTb4e94et
— Mayor Eric Adams (@NYCMayor) February 13, 2025
The mayor was immediately inundated with accusations from Democrats that he was engaged in a “quid pro quo” with the Trump administration, with his Rikers announcement coming days after the Justice Department dropped the corruption case against him.
The accusations led City Hall to have New York City First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro sign the final executive order authorizing ICE access to Rikers instead of Adams to avoid further allegations of illegal behavior.
ERIC ADAMS EXPANDS COOPERATION WITH ICE, SIDELINES NYC SANCTUARY CITY PROTECTIONS
“To maintain trust among the nearly 8.5 million New Yorkers who our administration serves every day, Mayor Adams has delegated all powers and responsibilities related to any executive order to authorize federal officials to investigate potential criminal immigration violations at Rikers Island to First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro,” Adams press secretary Kayla Mamelak Altus told Politico.
Adams, who made headlines for criticizing the Biden administration’s immigration policies, has denied all allegations of quid pro quo. The mayor argued that the federal corruption case against him was only brought because of his resistance to then-President Joe Biden’s immigration strategies.
