New York City Mayor Eric Adams, one of the only major Democrats in the nation who has been willing to cooperate with the Trump administration’s crackdown on migrant crime, appears unfazed by the latest ruling against his efforts to allow ICE agents into Rikers Island detention facilities.
When asked by Fox News Digital what his response to this ruling was, Adams simply laughed and said it is “all part of the process.”
Adams, who is running for re-election as an Independent, is facing heavy criticism from Democrats across the country for cooperating with the Trump administration’s immigration agenda. In one of the latest developments, he has been sued by the Democrat-controlled New York City Council over an executive order issued by his office to allow ICE agents to access Rikers Island Prison to conduct immigration checks and interviews.
In the suit, the City Council accuses Adams of engaging in an illegal “quid pro quo” with the Trump administration and prioritizing his own political goals over the city’s “prized sanctuary laws.”
The suit called the executive order “the poisoned fruit of Mayor Adams’s deal with the Trump Administration.”
Last week, New York Judge Mary Rosado ruled to bar the city from “taking any steps toward negotiating, signing, or implementing any Memorandum of Understanding with the federal government” for the time being.
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ICE previously had a presence at Rikers, but the agency was banned from the jail complex in 2014 under New York City’s sanctuary laws limiting cooperation with immigration enforcement.
This remained the case until this month when New York City First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro signed an executive order allowing federal immigration authorities to operate an office on Rikers Island.
DEMOCRAT CITY COUNCIL SUES MAYOR FOR ALLOWING ICE INTO MAJOR AMERICAN PRISON
The order states that the safety of New Yorkers has been jeopardized by violent transnational gangs like MS-13 and Tren de Aragua – gangs designated as foreign terrorist organizations by the Trump administration – and there is a critical need for federal law enforcement to share “real-time” intelligence with the city’s corrections department and police.
The order allows federal law enforcement agencies to share intelligence with the corrections department and the NYPD about criminal gang activity among individuals both inside and outside of custody.
It does not give ICE permission to carry out civil immigration enforcement and arrest people simply for being undocumented.
The order was issued the week after federal charges against Adams were dismissed. He had been accused of using his position as mayor to receive luxury travel and illegal campaign contributions from Turkish foreign nationals.
Adams insisted the case was politically motivated and was pursued in retaliation for his criticism of President Joe Biden’s immigration policies.
