Mayor Eric Adams on Tuesday re-upped calls to change New York City’s sanctuary laws, pushing for more accountability for those suspected of committing violent crimes and encouraging more collaboration between local law enforcement and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“I want to go back to the standards of the previous mayors who I believe subscribed to my belief that people who are suspected of committing serious crimes in this city should be held accountable,” Adams told reporters a day after making a similar statement during a town hall.
Asked about whether the hypothetical charged immigrant deserves due process, Adams said, “They didn’t give due process to the person that they shot or punched or killed.”
Several immigrants were arrested recently after allegedly assaulting police officers outside a Times Square immigrant shelter. In another incident, a 15-year-old Venezuelan immigrant was arrested after allegedly shooting a tourist in Times Square, and New York City Police Commissioner Edward Caban said the immigrant also shot at police officers.
“There’s just a philosophical disagreement here,” Adams said. “They can have due process, but we should be communicating with ICE, and if ICE makes the determination of deporting, then they should, so no one’s taking away from anyone’s due process.”
New York’s sanctuary laws were enacted in 2014 under then-Mayor Bill de Blasio to provide services to undocumented immigrants. Adams spokesman Charles Lutvak said the Democratic mayor is particularly against two laws put into effect by de Blasio in 2014 and 2017, according to the Associated Press.
Under the first law, New York City does not have to cooperate with federal immigration authorities by keeping detainees in jail at their request unless those individuals have been convicted of serious violent crimes. Under the second, city officials and resources cannot be used to assist federal immigration agents in enforcing immigration laws.
In a statement from several legal services, groups said Adams’s call to roll back some of the rules would result in “upending local criminal court proceedings while perpetuating family separation and dividing communities.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
“Our detainer law is based on the principles of due process and the orderly administration of justice,” a statement from Brooklyn Defender Services, Legal Aid Society, The Bronx Defenders, New York County Defender Services, Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem, and Queens Defenders reads.
“These protections aim to ensure that New York City complies with the constitutional requirement of probable cause when working with ICE to detain someone,” they added. “This allows people, many of whom have been targeted by our city’s racist policing policies, to remain in New York City to fight their cases rather than be turned over to ICE officials, who may detain and deport someone without a criminal trial or conviction.”
