The Legal Aid Society on Wednesday condemned Mayor Eric Adams a day after he publicly suggested New York roll back its sanctuary city status, calling his remarks “xenophobic.”
During his Aug. 13 press conference, Hizzoner railed against the city’s sanctuary laws, which generally prevent local law enforcement agencies from sharing immigration with federal immigration authorities. Adams said he’s “not happy” that the law does not allow the city to coordinate with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which he suggested makes it harder for the city to deal with a small number of migrants alleged to have committed violent crimes.
But Legal Aid, on Aug. 14, said the city’s sanctuary laws — which specifically prevent the NYPD and Correction Department from honoring ICE detainers — are essential to protecting law-abiding immigrants from deportation without due process.
“These laws ensure that ICE officers adhere to the Constitutional requirement of securing a judicial warrant before depriving someone of their liberty,” the group said in a statement. “The Mayor’s recent calls, echoed by the NYPD, to roll back our sanctuary laws are xenophobic and only serve to advance anti-immigrant sentiments that are already fueling division and animosity across the five boroughs.”
Mayor Adams had mentioned the sanctuary laws in the context a migrant, Daniel Davon-Bonilla, getting arrested on Sunday for allegedly raping a woman under the Coney Island boardwalk. Davon-Bonilla was recently released from jail, where he had been after pleading guilty to a sexual assault in a migrant shelter last year.
“As you know, laws do not allow us to coordinate with ICE,” Adams said on Tuesday. “That’s the law. And, you know, I’m not happy about that. And I think he’s the poster child of what’s wrong with not doing that coordination. It’s clear that he does not deserve to be in our city.”
Tuesday was not the first time Adams has called for scaling back the city’s sanctuary laws, specifically the law preventing the NYPD and DOC from honoring ICE detainers, which was passed by the City Council and signed by former Mayor Bill de Blasio in 2014.
Previously, Mayor Adams has said he wants to have the power to coordinate with federal officials when migrants commit violent crimes, although the 2014 law makes exceptions for migrants with recent convictions for violent crimes.
Adams would need action from the City Council to change the 2014 law, but the mostly progressive body has shown little appetite to repeal the city’s sanctuary status.
One council member who is pushing for doing away with the city’s sanctuary law, Robert Holden — a conservative Democrat representing part of Queens — said in a statement that the Coney Island rape could have been avoided were the policy not in place.
“This is a direct result of City Hall’s refusal to act and work with ICE to keep our communities safe, leaving us vulnerable to those who should have been deported,” Holden said in a statement. “We already have enough criminals in this city—why should we continue importing more?”
