New York City Mayor Eric Adams called for drastic changes to the city’s sanctuary policies, marking the first time he publicly endorses a shift that could put undocumented immigrants who are accused of a crime in the hands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in New York.
“I don’t believe people who are violent in our city and commit repeated crimes should have the privilege of being in our city,” Adams told reporters during a press conference at City Hall on Tuesday. “You don’t have the right to be in our city and tarnish the overwhelming number who are here following the rules.”
Adams’ comments mark a shift in policy that originated during the era of Mayor Ed Koch in the late 1980s and has evolved over years spanning five mayoral administrations.
“I want to go back to the standards of the previous mayors who, I believe, subscribed to my belief that people who are suspected of committing serious crimes in this city should be held accountable,” Adams said.
Adams’ comments follow a series of high-profile incidents involving recently arrived migrants in the city who have been accused of violent crimes, including a recent shooting of a tourist during a robbery inside a Times Square clothing store.
The definition of sanctuary city or state can vary somewhat across jurisdictions. The term is broadly applied to jurisdictions that have policies in place designed to limit cooperation with or involvement in federal immigration enforcement actions. How such policies are enforced can vary.
When Koch took up the policy in 1989 – the first time the city had done so – he enacted an executive order barring agencies and officials from sharing information about immigrants unless it involved a criminal matter or the individual authorized it.
Several years later in 2014, former Mayor Bill de Blasio and the City Council added teeth to the order’s language, putting a law on the books that removed ICE from Department of Correction facilities and barred the NYPD or DOC from honoring detainer requests from ICE. Detainer requests are issued by ICE as an official ask to hold an individual for possible deportation.
The city’s current law does include some exceptions: People with recent convictions for specific violent crimes and people on the federal terrorist watchlist are exempt from the rule. If ICE obtains a judicial warrant for an individual, it is also allowed under the current set up.
Sanctuary city policy has become a reliable talking point for Republicans who have sought to blame Democrats for dysfunction at the US Mexico border.
Adams’ shift also underscores the challenge faced by several Democratic mayors across the nation who have historically been supportive of sanctuary city policies.
Proponents of sanctuary city policies, for their part, have long argued the policies ultimately make cities safer for everyone, including migrant communities who are often vulnerable to crime and fear speaking to law enforcement.
The New York Immigration Coalition released a statement earlier this month seeking to clarify the city’s current policy.
“Recent incidents in New York City have fueled fear-mongering and baseless attacks on sanctuary city policies. New York’s long-standing sanctuary policies are public safety measures – laws that protect entire communities and encourage immigrants to access police protection,” the coalition wrote in a statement.
Adams has not outlined specific changes to the law, but he would need the support of a majority of the City’s legislature to make changes unless he pursues executive action. During a recent press conference, City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams said the body had no plans to take up any changes.
During a town hall with constituents on Monday, the mayor said deportation should be the next step after someone commits a crime – though he did not specify whether a conviction would be necessary.
“The overwhelming number of migrants and asylum seekers that are here, they want to work, but those small numbers that are committing crimes, we need to modify the sanctuary city law that if you commit a felony, a violent act, we should be able to turn you over to ICE and have you deported,” he said.
