A Manhattan choose is obstructing Mayor Adams’ administration from letting federal immigration brokers function on Rikers Island for at the very least one other month, extending a brief restraining order barring the controversial effort from shifting ahead.
The restraining order was first issued Monday by Justice Mary Rosado in response to a lawsuit from the Metropolis Council alleging the mayor’s effort to permit ICE brokers on Rikers is a part of a “corrupt” quid professional quo he entered into with President Trump’s administration to get his federal corruption case dropped.
In a Manhattan Supreme Courtroom listening to Friday afternoon, Rosado dominated the restraining order ought to keep in place at the very least till the following listening to within the case. She didn’t instantly schedule the listening to, however mentioned it received’t be for at the very least one other month.
The restraining order says Metropolis Corridor can’t let feds onto the island, and even begin negotiations with Trump’s administration concerning the phrases underneath which ICE brokers could be allowed to function on the notorious jail.
Earlier than Rosado’s ruling, attorneys for the Council argued the freeze was crucial to stop “irreparable harm” from being carried out on Rikers and inside immigration communities.
Daniel Kornstein, a lawyer for the Council, mentioned opening the door to ICE would imply ramped deportations not simply of these convicted of significant crimes, but in addition accused of extra minor infractions.
He mentioned Adams’ alleged quid professional quo with Trump’s administration creates “a bad taint that can’t be cured” over the order.
“It’s for an ulterior purpose: It’s not for criminal enforcement, it’s to expand and drum up deportations,” Kornstein mentioned of the chief order Adams’ administration issued final month to let ICE on the island once more.
An indication denouncing Mayor Eric Adams is pictured at a press convention after the mayor’s resolution to permit ICE brokers on Rikers Island Thursday, April 10, 2025 in Manhattan, New York. (Barry Williams / New York Day by day Information)
ICE used to have an workplace on Rikers the place it coordinated deportation actions till 2014, when the town strengthened native sanctuary legal guidelines to bar federal immigration enforcement on the island jail, the place a majority of inmates are awaiting trial and haven’t been convicted of any crimes.
An legal professional for the mayor, Jim Catterson, instructed the choose the Council had did not show any rapid hurt: “All this is nothing but speculation.”
“This is nothing more than a political statement masquerading as a petition,” he mentioned.
Adams has denied getting into right into a quid professional quo with Trump.
The president’s Justice Division officers secured a dismissal of Adams’ corruption indictment this month after informing him they anticipated the quashing of the case would enable him to play a bigger position in serving to Trump goal undocumented New Yorkers for “mass deportations.”
Adams introduced he would search to let ICE again on Rikers shortly after Trump’s administration first moved to finish his case, and the choose presiding over his indictment wrote in an opinion that the dismissal “smacks” of a political “bargain.”
The Council sued the mayor final week over the chief order, claiming the transfer was the “poisoned fruit” of a “corrupt” cope with Trump. The Council’s swimsuit additionally argues the order, signed by First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro, is invalid on its face as a result of it broke process laid out by the Metropolis Constitution requiring the mayor himself to challenge such a directive.
After Friday’s ruling, Council Speaker Adrienne Adams lauded Rosado.
“With today’s decision, the court has now ruled twice against Mayor Adams’ illegal executive order that conspires to sell out New Yorkers, and we look forward to the court’s consideration of our request for a preliminary injunction,” the speaker, who’s working for mayor this yr, mentioned in an announcement.
Spokespeople for the mayor didn’t instantly return requests for remark.
Apart from the presiding choose’s issues a few “bargain,” the Trump DOJ’s intervention in Adams’ felony case set off waves of resignations from the feds who prosecuted him, together with then-acting Manhattan U.S. Lawyer Danielle Sassoon, who wrote in a letter that the dropping of the costs was a product of a corrupt cope with the president.
Randy Mastro is pictured at New York Metropolis Corridor on April 1, 2025. (Michael Appleton / Mayoral Images Workplace)
Mastro issued the administration’s Rikers-related govt order late April 8.
In response to the mayor’s workplace, the directive is in compliance with native sanctuary legal guidelines as a result of it’s tailor-made to solely allow ICE brokers to conduct felony versus civil enforcement on Rikers.
What meaning in observe is that ICE brokers can solely goal immigrants on Rikers if they’ve federal judicial warrants authorizing their deportation because of severe crimes, like homicide and rape. Beneath the chief order, brokers aren’t supposed to have the ability to goal immigrant inmates on the island in the event that they’re solely armed with civil deportation detainers.
New York Metropolis Council Speaker Adrienne Adams speaks at a press convention to denounce Mayor Eric Adams’ resolution to ICE brokers on Rikers Island Thursday, April 10, 2025 in Manhattan, New York. (Barry Williams/ New York Day by day Information)
However Council Democrats and immigration advocates say the Mastro order flouts the spirit of the sanctuary legal guidelines in that they worry ICE brokers will interact in civil enforcement on Rikers anyway.
They’ve cited these issues to the truth that Trump’s administration has proven itself keen to bend numerous guidelines as a part of its hardline immigration crackdown, together with by focusing on even some U.S. residents for deportation and in search of to revoke the standing of inexperienced card holders over free speech points.
Mastro mentioned not too long ago there could be “consequences” if ICE is caught partaking in civil enforcement on the island. Nonetheless, he and the mayor’s workplace have declined to say what these penalties is likely to be.
Initially Printed: April 25, 2025 at 3:42 PM EDT
