In a sign of increasing cooperation with Donald Trump’s anti-immigration plans, the Republican administration’s hardline so-called “border tsar”, Tom Homan, met with New York’s Democratic mayor, Eric Adams, on Thursday as the White House pushes for more detaining and deporting of immigrants, especially those accused of crimes.
The two resumed discussions on a controversial topic they had talked about in a previous meeting in December – re-establishing an office for the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (Ice) at the city’s notorious Rikers Island jail.
Current city law prohibits Ice authorities from operating immigration enforcement out of a facility on city department of corrections property, such as detaining and possibly deporting immigrants from the jail.
Despite this, Adams’s office issued a statement later on Thursday afternoon saying: “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.”
The Ice office at Rikers was shut down by previous Democratic mayor Bill de Blasio in 2015.
Adams’s statement continued: “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.”
Ice officials have long had a contentious relationship with New York, which has sanctuary laws that limit police cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.
Adams has controversially said he favors loosening those “sanctuary” policies, but he does not have the broad power to do so as mayor. He now appears to be intent on changing that and flying in the face of current protocols, also announcing the potential for more cooperation with the federal government from the New York police department.
“We also discussed ways to embed more NYPD detectives into federal taskforces, focusing on these violent gangs and criminal activity,” Adams said of his meeting with Homan.
Murad Awawdeh, director of the New York Immigration Coalition, said that the mayor was trying to do “an end run” around local laws, making himself complicit with Trump’s “detention to deportation pipeline” in exchange for favors.
“This is a deal made with the devil to try to roll back our city’s longstanding sanctuary laws and policies – policies that allow all New Yorkers to live freely while improving everyone’s public safety. History will not look kindly on his betrayal of our communities,” he said, adding that the mayor could expect opposition to his “legally dubious” move from ordinary New Yorkers and city lawmakers.
Adams had said before the meeting that he intended to bring up the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) move on Wednesday to claw back more than $80m it had previously paid the city to help defray the cost of sheltering more homeless migrants.
He is under strong pressure increasingly to cooperate with the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, in what appears to be a carrot-and-stick approach – with money being withdrawn but at the same time the Department of Justice intervening with federal prosecutors in Manhattan and ordering them to drop a criminal corruption case against Adams.
The mayor has been struggling amid a sprawling federal corruption investigation that has cost him key lieutenants and resulted in the mayor himself being indicted last September, accused of accepting bribes and illegal campaign contributions.
On Monday, the justice department ordered federal prosecutors to drop the indictment against Adams, in a stunning intervention, saying it was restricting him from immigration enforcement.
This last move from Washington prompted the Manhattan US attorney in charge of the case to resign on Thursday, reportedly along with two other top officials.
News that Adams was weighing whether to allow Ice to re-establish an office at the city’s notorious Rikers Island jail first emerged after that first meeting with Homan in December.
Homan at the time told the New York Post Adams has done “a complete 180” on immigration policy in terms of being willing to cooperate with the federal government.
Proponents of the idea say having an Ice facility at the jail would make it easier for federal agents to deport people held there before they can be released on to the streets.
Before Thursday’s meeting, Adams had recently enraged immigration advocates after a leaked memo revealed guidance appearing to make it easier for Ice officers to go into what had previously been designated as sensitive locations, such as schools, migrant shelters, churches and hospitals – only to have to walk back some of the policy language later after an outcry.
“We will not put a frontline worker in harm’s way and subject to arrest by federal officers simply by doing their job,” said the city’s corporation counsel, Muriel Goode-Trufant, who issued the video and flowchart with new guidelines that she said applied to many city agencies.
Under current law, signed by the former mayor Bill de Blasio, New York City police and corrections officers do not usually cooperate with Ice enforcement, and Ice is prohibited from many locations except when they have a warrant signed by a judge that alleges a serious crime has been committed.
“I cannot have any city employee that will get in the way of [Ice] carrying out their job as a federal authority. That would be irresponsible for me,” Adams said last Sunday in an interview on the WABC Latino-issues program Tiempo.
Adams went out of his way to meet Trump after the election and establish a warm relationship with the Republican now president and his team, in an unlikely alliance.
Advocates say Adams’s stance on sanctuary laws seems weak at best.
Awawdeh said Adams’s “dangerous” policy on Ice access to sensitive locations “will further force families into the shadows and leave countless New Yorkers vulnerable to detention and deportation simply for accessing basic services”. He called on Adams to reverse the policy completely or face a lawsuit.
Many New Yorkers are living in fear after recent Ice raids that have reportedly scooped up at least 100 residents.
It is far from clear how many convicted criminals have been arrested so far during high-profile Ice raids. And, at Rikers Island, the vast majority of those held at the jail have not been convicted of their charges. In August 2023, 87% of its approximately 6,000 detainees were there pre-trial, according to a city comptroller report.
“As the Trump administration’s goals of causing panic and fear while carrying out harmful detention is happening in New York and around our country, we are more concerned than ever about the mayor’s persistent claims that he will seek to roll back laws our communities have long relied on to feel safe,” said Yasmine Farhang, director of advocacy at the city-based Immigrant Defense Project (IDP).
The Ice New York field office did not respond to requests for comment.
“Reestablishing the Ice ERO [enforcement and removal operations] unit at Rikers would allow ERO NYC officers to take direct custody of foreign-born criminal offenders without the need to re-apprehend these criminals at large in the community,” Todd Lyons, assistant director of field operations, wrote on his LinkedIn page in December.
Discussions of reopening Ice at Rikers stand as “one more example of the city trying to use city resources to further Ice’s agenda”, said Rosa Cohen-Cruz, director of immigration policy for the Bronx Defenders advocacy group.
Cohen-Cruz pointed to research such as a 2022 study by the University of Texas at Austin, showing that sanctuary city policies increase community safety because immigrants are more willing to engage with government, political systems and important local services.
Cohen-Cruz said that since most held at Rikers are either awaiting trial or charged with misdemeanors, Ice interactions could delay or deny their due-process rights.
“It really does impact communities and create distrust between communities and state and local actors,” she said. “We want to make sure that immigrants know they can interact with the government and not fear that their information will be shared with Ice,” she said.
The IDP and Bronx Defenders are calling on the city council to pass a new law giving individuals the right to sue if they believe immigration detention violates their rights.
The Associated Press contributed reporting
• This article was amended on 13 February 2025 to clarify that current city law would prohibit Ice from opening an office at the Rikers Island jail.
