Adams admin signs order allowing ICE to reopen Rikers office as NYC pols, criminal justice advocates seethe

A top Adams administration official signed an executive order Tuesday night allowing federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to operate within the Rikers Island jail complex for the first time in over a decade.

The move drew swift backlash from elected officials and advocates charging it is the result of an alleged quid-pro-quo between Adams’ private attorney and Trump’s Justice Department to have his case dropped by a federal judge last week.

Adams recused himself from signing the order, leaving the task to First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro — who said he made his own “independent assessment” to avoid the appearance of a deal with Trump’s administration, according to a report by Politico.

Adams denied any connection between the DOJ dropping his case and his cooperation with Trump’s immigration crackdown as recently as Tuesday, despite the federal judge who dismissed the charges writing that they appeared to have struck a “bargain.”

First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro at an August 2024 City Council hearing.John McCarten/NYC Council Media Unit

Mastro’s order says it is aimed at targetting “transnational gangs” such as MS-13 and Tren de Aragua, which the Trump administration has designated as terrorist organizations. It allows ICE, along with other federal law enforcement agencies such as the FBI, to establish offices for criminal, but not civil, investigations at the island jail complex.

“It is critical that federal law enforcement agencies are able to share intelligence with the DOC and NYPD in real-time about criminal gang activity among individuals both inside and outside of DOC custody,” Mastro wrote.

The executive order overrides a 2014 law that barred ICE from operating on Rikers Island or within any city Department of Correction facility, which was aimed at cutting off a pipeline between city jails and federal deportation efforts.

Mastro told CBS New York Tuesday night that the move was “carefully, narrowly tailored” to allow DOC to collaborate with ICE on criminal investigations and not civil immigration matters. Civil enforcement includes deporting those who are in the country illegally but have not committed a crime.

‘Opens the door for collusion’

However, advocates argued that the executive order “opens the door” to “unlawful collusion” between local law enforcement and the Trump administration, which is prohibited by the city’s sanctuary laws.

Zach Ahmad, a senior counsel with the New York Civil Liberties Union, said the Trump administration has so far used public safety concerns as a pretext for detaining “parents of young children, students, and farmworkers.”

“By giving ICE the keys to Rikers Island, the Adams administration is once again selling out New Yorkers for Trump’s dangerous deportation regime,” Ahmad said in a statement. “This needless concession and the supposed limits on ICE’s role at Rikers are just an attempt to provide cover for ICE’s cruel agenda.”

City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, who is running for mayor against Eric Adams but unrelated to him, drew a direct line between the mayor’s executive order and the DOJ’s decision to scuttle his case.

“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 speaker said in a statement.

Mayor Adams originally announced that the executive order would be signed shortly after meeting with Trump’s “Border Czar” Tom Homan a couple of days after the Justice Department moved to end his indictment.

The speaker added that 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.”