The federal immigration authorities will be allowed to open office space at the Rikers Island jail complex for criminal investigations, according to an executive order issued on Tuesday by Mayor Eric Adams’s administration.
The order, issued by First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro, came nearly two months after Mr. Adams announced that he would allow Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents into the jail to assist in criminal investigations.
Mr. Mastro, who was appointed several weeks ago, was authorized by Mr. Adams to determine “whether and under what circumstances” to allow federal agents into the jail complex, according to the order. The Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and other federal agencies will be permitted the same privileges as ICE.
The federal agencies will coordinate with the Correction Department’s Criminal Intelligence Bureau on “violent criminals and gangs, crimes committed at or facilitated by persons in DOC custody, and drug trafficking,” the order says.
“This directive is driven by one priority and one priority alone: to keep all New Yorkers safe,” Mr. Mastro said in a statement. “I came to this decision after making an independent assessment of the facts and law.”
The executive order, which was first reported by CBS News, was met with swift rebuke by Adrienne Adams, the New York City Council speaker. Ms. Adams, who is running for mayor, called the move “deeply concerning.” City law has “clear guidelines that prohibit the use of office space on Rikers for the enforcement of civil immigration enforcement,” said Ms. Adams, who is not related to the mayor.
Mr. Adams first signaled the move after a meeting with President Trump’s border czar, Thomas Homan, in February. The meeting was seen as an early test of the mayor’s relationship with the Trump administration, and of the degree to which Mr. Adams might owe it fealty.
Federal prosecutors withdrew corruption charges against him on the basis that a prosecution could hinder his cooperation with the Trump administration’s immigration program.
In her statement, Ms. Adams pointed to what she called the “series of highly troubling recent events between the Trump administration and our city’s mayor.”
“It is hard not to see this action as connected to the dismissal of the mayor’s case and his willingness to cooperate with Trump’s extreme deportation agenda that is removing residents without justification or due process,” she said.
Allowing ICE a free hand on Rikers could help the Trump administration accomplish its goal of mass deportations in a city heavily populated by people born in foreign countries.
ICE formerly had offices on Rikers Island, which enabled the city to transfer undocumented immigrants jailed there to federal custody. In 2014, the city passed sanctuary laws that banned ICE from the jails.
Mr. Adams had complained about the burden migrants placed on New York City long before the end of the corruption case against him.
In recent months, he had sought a way to allow ICE agents into Rikers without violating the city’s sanctuary laws. One of the 2014 laws permits him to to allow access to the federal immigration authorities “for purposes unrelated to the enforcement of civil immigration laws.” He delegated that power to Mr. Mastro.
The move by Mr. Adams’s administration is “making a runaround on the city’s longstanding sanctuary laws,” Murad Awawdeh, president of the New York Immigration Coalition, said in a statement.
“While Trump is detaining and disappearing people across the country without due process,” the Adams administration “is rolling out the welcome mat for violating New Yorkers’ civil rights with impunity,” Mr. Awawdeh said.