Mayor Eric Adams on Tuesday encouraged undocumented immigrants to continue going to their mandated court dates even as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have been conducting raids at city courthouses in recent days, urging them to confer with their attorneys about how to navigate the situation.
“We encourage people to go through the process legally,” Adams said during his June 3 press conference at City Hall. “I’ve been clear on that. I don’t want people to be deterred from going to court. Because if you deter people from following out the process, then you can create a level of people being fearful of our court system.”
The mayor’s comments come against the backdrop of him avoiding criticizing President Trump, especially on his handling of immigration policy. Adams has committed to working with federal immigration authorities on criminal enforcement, but has insisted that he will not violate the city’s sanctuary laws by directing city agencies to assist ICE with civil immigration matters.
One of those arrested was a 20-year-old public school student named Dylan Lopez Contreras,, who was detained following an immigration hearing on May 21 even though he was reportedly in the country legally under a program instituted by former President Biden. However, the Department of Homeland Security claims that he is in the country illegally.
Roughly a week after Adams declined to condemn Lopez Contreras’ arrest, saying it was a federal matter, his Corporation Counsel Muriel Goode-Trufant filed an amicus brief on Monday slamming the arrest as a “trap.” The brief comes as Lopez Contreras’ attorneys are trying to free him from the Pennsylvania detention center where he is being held.
Following Lopez Contreras’ arrest, ICE has detained several more undocumented immigrants at Manhattan immigration courts over the past few days. Masked agents swooped in and detained migrants and onlookers alike at immigration courts housed at both 26 Federal Plaza and Varick Street after judges dismissed their immigration cases to place them in proceedings known as “expedited removal” last Wednesday and Thursday.
On Tuesday, Adams advised any migrants going to court for their mandatory hearings who are concerned about being detained by ICE to speak with their attorneys first.
“They should seek their counsel,” Adams said. “That’s what lawyers are for. Someone is going to court, they should sit down with their counsel and be guided by their counsel on what actions they should take. I would encourage everyone to do that.”
When asked whether he would use his relationship with Trump to press him to stop conducting ICE raids in city courthouses, Adams said he would not discuss this in private. Yet he said he held the same position expressed in the amicus brief.
“Well, I think the amicus brief points out what our position is on that,” Adams said. “The public position is clear. I have not moved away from my position. I have not vacillated back and forth. It’s very clear. The amicus brief points out I don’t want people to be fearful to go to court.”
