On Monday morning, New York City Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams joined a coalition of immigration and legal defense groups to file a joint amicus brief in support of the New York City Council’s efforts to prevent the Adams administration from allowing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to operate on Rikers Island.
The City Council is currently in court challenging Executive Order 50, which would allow ICE to operate on Rikers, undermining city sanctuary laws preventing such coordination between local authorities and federal immigration enforcement. A long history of abuses by immigration officials both on Rikers and off, as well as the current Trump administration’s actions to undermine due process, support the brief’s claim that allowing Executive Order 50 to proceed would cause immediate, irreparable harm.
“The mayor has long looked for every opportunity to expand collaboration with ICE, attempting to make it more acceptable to chip away at protections and deport more immigrants, regardless of criminality or illegality,” said Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams. “Rikers is in a constant state of crisis and human rights violations, and inviting ICE in only compounds that harm. This mayor has already demonstrated a willingness to ignore laws he doesn’t like, especially on Rikers, and this latest example is nothing more than an attempt to aid the Trump deportation machine. Our city cannot become complicit in Trump’s harmful tactics, and I’m proud to stand firmly with our partners in this legal fight.”
The full coalition joining this legal effort includes The Legal Aid Society, Office of the New York City Public Advocate, The Bronx Defenders, Brooklyn Defender Services, Immigrant Children Advocates’ Relief Effort, Immigrant Defense Project, LatinoJustice PRLDEF, Make the Road New York, New York Civil Liberties Union Foundation, Neighborhood Defender Service Of Harlem, New York County Defender Services, New York Legal Assistance Group, New York Immigration Coalition, Queens Defenders, And UnLocal.
A Temporary Restraining Order is currently in place to prevent the Executive Order from being enacted through to the next court date – the brief argues for a preliminary injunction against implementation of the order.
The Public Advocate, together with the City Council, has previously sued to prevent the Adams administration from blocking portions of Local Law 42, the solitary confinement ban, from taking effect.
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