Judge Blocks ICE Plan to Open Rikers Office Indefinitely
A state judge on Friday indefinitely blocked Mayor Eric Adams from letting federal immigration authorities open an office at the Rikers Island jail complex in New York City, a priority for the Trump administration as it seeks to expand its immigration crackdown.
The City Council had sued the Adams administration on April 15 in an effort to halt the return of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency to Rikers Island. The Council argued that letting ICE into the city's largest jail facilities, a decade after the agency was banned from Rikers, would lead to mass deportations.
Friday's action by Justice Mary Rosado of State Supreme Court in Manhattan represented the third time she had sided with the City Council. In April, she had temporarily blocked the mayor's efforts, and then extended the short-term block. The latest ruling — a preliminary injunction — is a longer-term order and will be in place until the judge reaches a decision.
In an 18-page ruling, the judge found that the City Council had 'shown a likelihood of success' because of its argument about the appearance of a quid pro quo between the Trump administration and Mr. Adams. The mayor had moved to allow ICE into Rikers shortly after the Justice Department dropped corruption charges against him.
The two-month legal fight has pitted Mr. Adams against fellow Democrats who control the City Council. While the case is far from over, the City Council cast the ruling on Friday as a victory.
'Over the past months, we've witnessed the Trump administration repeatedly disregard the U.S. Constitution, disappearing residents within our country without due process and wrongfully arresting local government officials,' Adrienne Adams, the City Council speaker, said in a statement. 'This attempted corrupt bargain to allow ICE to set up a center on Rikers would only make our city, and all New Yorkers, less safe.'
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