City Council leaders are considering taking legal action to block what they are calling Mayor Adams’ “appalling” new policy that gives municipal workers the greenlight to allow federal immigration workers onto city property without warrants if their presence makes them “reasonably feel threatened.”
The policy first came to light Thursday, when the Daily News reported it was disseminated in a Jan. 13 memo to all city government agencies, including the public hospital and shelter systems as well as the Police and Education Departments.
In a statement Friday, Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, Deputy Speaker Diana Ayala and Council Immigration Chairwoman Alexa Aviles said the new policy is “inconsistent” with the city’s longstanding sanctuary laws, which hold that municipal workers shouldn’t allow federal immigration agents on city property for immigration enforcement unless they can present judicial warrants authorizing arrests of specific individuals.
“The Council is considering all its legal options to reverse this appalling memo and hold the administration accountable,” the three top Council Democrats said.
Diana Ayala speaking during a press conference before a New York City Council meeting at City Hall in Manhattan, New York on Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2023. (Shawn Inglima for New York Daily News)
Spokespeople for the mayor didn’t immediately return requests for comment on the legal threat.
City Hall says the policy is about safety and protecting workers. It states that “if, at any time, you reasonably feel threatened or fear for your safety or the safety of others around you, you should give the officer the information they have asked for [if available to you] or let them enter the site.”
“We are responsible for safeguarding the well-being of our city staff, which is why we have directed city employees not to put themselves in harm’s way during federal immigration enforcement interactions,” Adams’ spokesperson Liz Garcia said Thursday. “Employees are advised to contact their legal counsel in such situations and to avoid verbal or physical altercations, as this could compromise their safety and hinder critical city services.”
Garcia also said Thursday it’s “misinformation” to claim the administration is telling employees to cooperate with the feds, arguing such statements only fuel “anxiety within immigrant communities.”
According to a source directly familiar with the matter, Adams’ administration drew up the policy in a bid to protect city workers after President Trump and his team started saying publicly they would once back in the White House seek to criminally prosecute any local officials in the U.S. trying to interfere with federal immigration enforcement.
Trump sees many sanctuary city laws as illegally blocking federal immigration enforcement actions.
The administration filed suit Thursday against Chicago. The lawsuit argues the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause “prohibits Illinois, Chicago, Cook County, and their officials from obstructing the Federal Government’s ability to enforce laws that Congress has enacted or to take actions entrusted to it by the Constitution.”
Trump, who’s threatening to deport all undocumented immigrants in the country, has since returning to the White House last month launched highly-publicized deportation raids in New York and other major U.S. cities. There are no known instances of such raids taking place on city government property in New York.
But Speaker Adams and her colleagues argued Adams’ new policy effectively invites Trump to start performing such raids on municipal property, especially as he has vowed to target “sensitive locations” like schools and houses of worship, which used to be off-grounds under federal policy rescinded by Trump.
“The mayor and every deputy mayor have the responsibility to prioritize New York City and New Yorkers, not cater to the Trump’s administration’s extremism that seeks to sow fear and tear New York City families apart,” the Council Dems said.
Migrant families leave for a walk to school in front of the Row Hotel that serves as migrant shelter on Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2023, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)
Backlash against the new policy comes as Adams has for months faced criticism from fellow Democrats over what they see as his overly chummy relationship with Trump as he remains under indictment on corruption charges. Adams has pleaded not guilty and is supposed to stand trial in April, but his legal team is also trying to convince Trump’s Justice Department to drop his case.
If they don’t fear for their safety, the new Adams administration policy says city workers should contact their agency’s general counsel if immigration agents show up at their workplaces. With the same caveat, they should also ask the agents for judicial warrants if they’re trying to gain entry or obtain information about specific individuals, the memo says.
But Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, a progressive Democrat and frequent Adams critic, said the “reasonably feel threatened” carveout signals to the feds they can get onto city property without warrants as long as they’re aggressive.
“Whatever its intent, this directive will encourage ICE to be even more violent and intimidating toward city workers and immigrant communities alike,” Williams said. “It will force city workers to choose between their morals and their mayor’s orders.”