NEW YORK (PIX11) -- The Supreme Court of the State of New York has issued a preliminary injunction to block New York City Mayor Eric Adams from opening an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office at Rikers Island.
The ruling on Friday came after Adams previously announced that Homeland Security would work with the NYPD and the city’s Department of Correction to investigate gang activity at Rikers Island.
"The State Supreme Court’s ruling will effectively prevent thousands of New Yorkers a year from being deported simply because they were accused – not even convicted – of a crime," said the President and CEO of the New York Immigration Coalition Murad Awawdeh.
"New York City should not be in the business of carrying out Donald Trump’s mass disappearance agenda, which is in fact illegal under our local laws," the statement continued.
ICE previously had officers on Rikers Island until 2014 when the City Council passed sanctuary laws that banned the organization from operating in NYC jails.
Advocates had been hoping to block immigration officials from reestablishing an office on Rikers Island saying that the agency had been depriving defendants of due process, some of whom may be in the U.S. legally.
According to court documents, judges found that reestablishing an ICE office on Rikers Island would risk "damage to reputation, loss of goodwill, and brand tarnishment" to New York City due to its reputation as a "Sanctuary City."
"Moreover, the imminent threat of the loss of public trust in government institutions serves as a basis for injunctive relief," the court document reads.
The injunction makes it so that all other NYC government officials, officers, personnel and agencies are barred from creating an ICE office on Rikers until the end of the proceeding.
Dominique Jack is a digital content producer from Brooklyn with more than five years of experience covering news. She joined PIX11 in 2024. More of her work can be found here.
English (US) ·