Caribbean and other immigration advocates and New York City legislators on Thursday, April 10 rallied against Mayor Eric Adams’ announcement regarding the opening of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office at Rikers Island Correctional Facility in New York that would facilitate the deportation of Caribbean and other immigrants. 

New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC), Make the Road Action, Bronx Defenders, the Immigrant Defense Project, and the Katal Center for Equity, Health, and Justice joined New York City legislators, Caribbean and other immigrants, and people directly impacted by detention at Rikers Island in holding a rally and press conference outside City Hall in lower Manhattan in condemning an executive order issued by the mayor on Tuesday allowing ICE to establish an office within Rikers Island jail.

Murad Awawdeh, NYIC’s president and CEO, said ICE has not operated at Rikers Island since 2014, when Local Law 58 was enacted.

“New York City laws – created by the City Council over a decade ago – are clear,” said Awawdeh, whose umbrella organization represents over 200 immigrant and refugee groups in New York State. “Our city cannot and must not be in the business of deportation, and instead, our city agencies must build trust with immigrants so they can serve all New Yorkers.

“Rikers Island has a long and documented history of violence, abuse, and mismanagement. Under Mayor Adams, the conditions at Rikers have worsened, and in the last six weeks, five incarcerated people have died at Rikers,” he added. “For centuries, immigrants have built the economy and culture of New York City – and for years, our sanctuary laws and policies have protected immigrant New Yorkers from ICE’s predatory enforcement practices.

Nana Gyamfi, executive director of Black Alliance for Justice Immigration, said: “This city urgently needs leadership that fights for and protects Black and Brown New Yorkers from the violence being unleashed by a racist, fascist ‘broligarchy’ hell-bent on destroying our loved ones. Instead, the disgraced Mayor Adams continues to bow down and kiss Trump’s golf shoes, betraying the very people he was elected to serve.

“He has already capitulated to racist conservatives, and now he invites ICE back into Rikers Island—putting our communities in harm’s way and stripping away protections,” she said. “New Yorkers kicked ICE out of Rikers years ago to make the city safer (and it has) and to stop the city from acting as an accomplice to the separation of families.

Rosa Cohen-Cruz, immigration policy director of The Bronx Defenders, noted that the New York City Council “made the decision to remove ICE from Rikers Island more than a decade ago because they understood that ICE’s presence there undermined due process and equal access to justice.

“This executive order reopens the door to ICE’s abuse of vulnerable New Yorkers,” she said. “We know firsthand how ICE used Rikers to tear families apart and how city agencies have violated the law in collusion with them.

Lucas Marquez, director of civil rights and law reform at Brooklyn Defenders, said that this group sees “on a daily basis how ICE enforcement violates peoples’ rights, separates families, and unlawfully detains people in dangerous conditions in locations far from their communities.

“New York City has long recognized that sanctuary laws make all New Yorkers safer and that city agencies should not be in the business of collaborating with ICE,” he said. “Allowing ICE back on Rikers flies in the face of these principles and undermines New Yorkers’ constitutional rights.

Thirty New York City Council Members, as well as Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, the Comptroller, the Brooklyn Borough President, the Manhattan Borough President, and the Queens Borough President, sent a letter to the Mayor on Thursday condemning the executive order, calling for it to be rescinded and related documents turned over, and standing by New York City sanctuary laws.

“This executive order is deeply concerning, particularly given Judge Ho’s recent ruling on Mayor Adams’ corruption case, the attempted quid pro quo, and the series of highly troubling recent events between the Trump administration and our city’s mayor,” said New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, not relations with the mayor. “It is hard not to see this action as connected to the dismissal of the mayor’s case and his willingness to cooperate with Trump’s extreme deportation agenda that is removing residents without justification or due process.

“The mayor’s decision to compromise the city’s sovereignty, threaten chaos, and risk harm to our families ultimately resulted in the resignation of four deputy mayors,” she added. “As we have made abundantly clear, Local Law 58 of 2014 has clear guidelines that prohibit the use of office space on Rikers for the enforcement of civil immigration enforcement.

“The Council is closely reviewing the order and is prepared to defend against violations of the law to protect the safety of all New Yorkers,” Speaker Adams continued.

Public Advocate Williams, the son of Grenadian immigrants, said, “The mayor has long looked for every opportunity to expand collaboration with ICE—whether it was his own position or Donald Trump’s.

“By misleading the public about our sanctuary policies, he’s attempting to make it more acceptable to chip away at them and deport more immigrant New Yorkers, regardless of criminality or ‘illegality,'” he said.

“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 that rips immigrant families from their homes and students from their campuses,” Williams added.