At a press conference Tuesday morning, Mayor Eric Adams again insisted that immigration enforcement in New York City is a federal matter, urging reporters and those with questions about Immigration and Customs Enforcement tactics and policy to “speak to our federal partners” and his deputy mayors.
“The federal government’s in charge of immigration. That is their role, and I would encourage everyone again to speak to our federal partners. They should be briefing us,” Adams said Tuesday. “Our federal partners should be briefing us on what changes are happening on the federal level.”
Adams had previously emphasized the federal government’s authority over immigration matters following the ICE detention of NYC public school student Dylan Lopez Contreras in May. The mayor said at the time that because the arrest did not take place in city schools, it was a federal matter.
He noted Monday that the city has no role in collaborating with the federal government on civil matters, though it works with the feds on criminal cases. The remarks came after the City Council announced plans to probe the NYPD over alleged collaboration with ICE in detaining New Yorkers.
On questions regarding President Donald Trump’s public weekend directive to increase the scale of ICE raids in Democrat-run cities like New York, Adams passed the inquiry to Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Kaz Daughtry, who Adams said was in conversation with federal officials about immigration enforcement.
“Kaz Daughtry is speaking with our federal partners to get an understanding of if there are any new changes, and we will adjust based on those changes,” Adams said.
The mayor told reporters to take questions about the potential return of an ICE office to Rikers Island to First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro. Neither Daughtry nor Mastro was present at Tuesday’s press conference to answer the reporters’ questions.
A court ruled Friday that the plaintiffs in a lawsuit against Adams’ plan for the return of ICE to Rikers showed “a likelihood of success in demonstrating, at a minimum, the appearance of a quid pro quo” in Adams’ agreeing to opening the office in exchange for the dismissal of his federal corruption case.
Minutes after Adams’ press conference ended on Wednesday, federal officials representing ICE, the FBI, and the Treasury Department detained Comptroller Brad Lander at an immigration courthouse. Lander was attempting to escort a man out of his immigration hearing and prevent his arrest by ICE when officials took both individuals into custody. Lander, who is a U.S. citizen, has since been released from custody.
When asked about the incident later on Tuesday, Adams blamed Lander for what he characterized as a political stunt.
“I think it was more politics instead of protecting people,” Adams said. “It’s unfortunate that he took that action, because that is not the role of the elected official, what he did today.”
Throughout the past several weeks, the federal government has employed increasingly aggressive tactics in its pursuit of mass deportations, focusing on large cities like New York and Los Angeles and, most recently, explicitly urging ICE to double down on raids in cities with Democratic leadership. New York City has seen repeated raids in which plainclothes, masked ICE agents detain individuals leaving routine immigration hearings.
Adams has said that the city is working with the Trump administration on pursuing immigrants who “commit crimes.”
