The New York Supreme Court decided to maintain the blockade of the Immigration and Customs Control Service (ICE) to the Rikers Island prison, after a lawsuit filed by the State Municipal Assembly.
The president of the Municipal Assembly, Adrienne Adams, said that the Court’s decision against the “illegal” executive order of the mayor, Eric Adams, who authorizes that ICE reopens an office in Rikers, “represents another victory to protect public security in the city and the constitutional rights of New York against the extreme excesses” of President Donald Trump.
Last April, the Assembly filed a lawsuit against Adams for having authorized that ICE reopens an office in the municipal prison, where it operated for 20 years until its departure in 2014.
The mayor made the announcement after meeting with Tom Homan, the Tsar of the Border, after which he delegated responsibility in Vicealcalde Randy Mastro to issue the Executive Order, which has been criticized and fought in the Court by various proimigrants and civil rights groups, as well as elected officials.
“In recent months, we have witnessed how the Trump administration has repeatedly ignored the Constitution, has expelled residents within our country without due process and has unfairly arrested local government officials,” said the president of the Assembly in a statement.
He stressed that it is the third time that the Court issues a preliminary order against the mayor’s executive order “to conspire with Trump” in its mass deportation policy that are carried out through the country.
During the time that ICE was in Rikers, he asked to keep immigrants temporarily – sometimes for months – after their scheduled release dates, while investigating their immigration status, which led many to deportation processes ..
Meanwhile, a coalition of civil and pro -immigrant rights organizations and the Ombudsman, Jumaane Williams, who joined the lawsuit as friends of the Court, also held the decision of the Supreme Court.
The coalition argued to the Court in its legal action that the executive order undermines “dangerously” the laws of the city as a friend of immigrants or “sanctuary city” and facilitates cooperation between municipal agencies and federal immigration authorities.
“This preliminary order is a crucial victory for all New Yorkers in the midst of an unprecedented attack at the national level against immigrant families and their communities, and it is a strong reproach to the illegal and dangerous executive order of the Adams administration,” he said.
While the president of the immigration coalition, Murad Awawdeh, also welcomed the ruling: “Justice prevailed today in the city.”
