Adams appealed for greater cooperation between local police and federal immigration authorities, noting that current city policies limiting such communication are detrimental to public safety and New Yorkers.
The Democratic mayor’s statements represent the strongest criticism to date of the so-called sanctuary policies adopted by New York in the last decade, which seek to protect the city’s migrant population by limiting how local agencies can help in federal efforts to detention and deportation.
It is not the first time that the head of the local government has shown his disagreement with the irresponsible strategy of the tenant of the White House, but on this occasion the statements rose in tone and revealed very serious discrepancies with Washington.
Mayor reveals once again his disagreement
Citing his “deep disagreement” with those policies, Adams said the city’s Police Department should be free to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents when a person is suspected. of having committed a serious crime, such as robbery or gang activity.
“We should contact ICE, and if they determine to deport, then they should inform you,” Adams said.
“The simple fact that we cannot share with ICE that a person has committed three robberies, that he is part of a criminal organization and we cannot say or communicate it, is a problem for me,” said the mayor of the Big Apple.
Adams was recently forced to extend a curfew to 20 migrant shelters after violent incidents attributed to residents of these centers gained attention in the United States in recent weeks.
Increasingly, New York City authorities are reporting criminal acts committed by immigrants among the tens of thousands of asylum seekers they have placed in shelters and hotels in the last year.
“A wave of crime committed by migrants has swept through our city,” Police Commissioner Edward Caban said at a news conference Monday.
On two occasions, the New York mayor has requested economic aid from the Biden government for around $20 billion in the face of the economic and service chaos caused by the waves of immigrants.
Harsh criticism of the flexibility of “Sanctuary City”
New York’s sanctuary policies have drawn harsh criticism from conservatives in recent weeks, after serious incidents and police beatings involving recently arrived migrants occurred, including a brawl that became a media scandal. national news and social networks to a shooting in Times Square, along with countless assaults committed by immigrants on motorcycles in broad daylight.
The city began limiting cooperation with federal immigration agents in the 1980s as a public safety measure to assure the city’s large foreign population that they should not be afraid to interact with local police.
Supporters of those policies at the time included Republican Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who argued that, from a crime-fighting perspective, it was important for migrants to be less afraid of police.
Those limits on cooperation have since been expanded by subsequent governments.
Although Adams lamented the “drastic changes” to the policy, he did not explicitly say which aspects of the law he would seek to overturn. But his spokeswoman, Charles Lutvak, said the mayor was specifically opposed to a pair of laws implemented in 2014 and 2017 during the administration of his predecessor, Bill de Blasio, in full harmony with the policies of the Biden administration and the extreme left.
The first prevents the city from complying with requests from immigration authorities to detain criminal suspects unless they have been convicted of some violent crimes and a judge has issued an order for their deportation. The second law prohibits the use of city resources to assist in immigration enforcement tasks.
Supporters of those laws said they guarantee due process to immigrants, who otherwise could be detained and deported based on mere suspicion of criminal activity.
Adams cannot adjust the laws without approval from the City Council, whose progressive leaders have said they do not plan to reconsider the protections.
Extreme violence takes over New York
A newly arrived 15-year-old boy was accused of shooting a tourist in a Times Square store and shooting a police officer as he fled.
Police said the shooter, dressed in white, and two other teenagers stole a jacket from a store shortly after 7:00 p.m. when they were confronted by a female security guard who removed the merchandise. That’s when the teen pulled out a .45 caliber pistol and fired.
In the view of one progressive advocate, by joining calls to repeal the laws, Adams gave credit to immigrants fueling an increase in crime, according to Zachary Ahmad, an attorney with the New York Civil Liberties Union.
“Mayor Adamas’ ‘shameful threats’ to end New York’s status as a sanctuary city will only result in the cruel singling out and demoralization of our migrant neighbors,” he said.
Adams and his team appear to be determined to deal with an unprecedented increase in violence in New York City, driven in part by uncontrolled immigration numbers and the local government’s inability to curb the dire consequences of the policies. of the Biden administration’s “Open Doors.”
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