With Mayor Adams’ rhetoric, a decade-old NYC immigration law comes under threat

As the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump threatens to carry out large-scale deportations, Mayor Eric Adams is renewing a debate about whether undocumented residents accused of crimes should be handed over to federal immigration officials before their criminal cases stand the test of due process.

The mayor’s recent public comments have cast doubt on New York City’s 2014 sanctuary law, which states that city officials may only turn undocumented individuals over to federal authorities if they have been convicted of one or more out of 170 serious crimes in the last five years — and only after a judge signs a warrant.

There’s little evidence that the City Council is interested in rolling back the city’s sanctuary status, and as mayor, Adams is bound by the current laws. But he could suspend sanctuary laws as part of an emergency order. And after New York voters' rightward shift in the recent presidential election, Adams has been making overtures to appeal to President-elect Donald Trump and even left open the possibility of becoming a Republican again.

Any change would be interpreted as a significant retreat in the face of the incoming Trump administration and alter the rules of justice for the more than 400,000 undocumented people estimated to be living in the city.

New York City’s history of not reporting undocumented residents to federal immigration authorities far predates the 2014 sanctuary law, going back to Mayor Ed Koch's administration in the 1980s. That policy was rooted in the concern that people at risk of deportation may be afraid of seeking city services, including reporting crimes and receiving medical attention.

“There was a very conscious decision — and it was implemented in Republican and Democratic administrations alike in this city — that we recognize the reality,” former Mayor Bill de Blasio said. “We didn't create the border situation or the reality of undocumented people in America. That's a broken immigration policy that led to that, and obviously the individual choices of lots of people, but we had to manage it.”

He added: “And the way to manage it was not to turn all our public employees into immigration enforcement agents.”

No city policy can prevent immigrants from being deported outright. Agents of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, also known as ICE, have broad authority to arrest noncitizens even without the city’s help.

“What we had the ability to do was to say that our city resources will not be used with the exceptions that were carved out,” said former City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, who was a leading proponent of strengthening New York City sanctuary laws during the administrations of de Blasio and Michael Bloomberg.

Under Koch, the city initially carved out an exception allowing city officials to turn undocumented New Yorkers suspected of crimes over to federal agents.

More than two decades later, the City Council pressured Bloomberg to narrow that standard in response to concerns that federal authorities were deporting those accused of minor crimes with no prior criminal history.

Bloomberg was initially reluctant to scale back the city’s cooperation with ICE, but eventually agreed to expand protections for criminally accused immigrants after deportations under President Barack Obama ballooned. Obama deported more than 3 million people, more than any president.

Mark-Viverito said her push to strengthen sanctuary laws wasn't done "looking at Trump as a candidate."

“This was all stuff that was being done proactively in response to what already was happening in the world and the U.S.," she said.

In 2013, the city banned officials from honoring federal immigration detainer requests, which ask the city to transfer immigrants in its custody to federal officials. The law had certain exceptions, including lifting protections for those with previous felony convictions or facing felony charges. Immigrants convicted of misdemeanors within the past decade were also left unshielded.

That changed in 2014, when Mark-Viverito introduced legislation that became the city’s more recent, stricter sanctuary law. The bill received wide support in the City Council, although Republicans opposed it. But public opinion was divided. A New York Times editorial called the legislation “a welcome step toward more sensible and constitutional immigration policies,” while an opinion piece in the New York Post called the new laws “a gift to thugs and terrorists.”

New York City’s sanctuary law has remained steadily in place since then, despite some criticism from those who have expressed hostility to arriving migrants. The current mayor’s stance has at times been confusing, and his recent remarks have landed him in hot water.

During his press conference last week, Adams incorrectly suggested that immigrants aren’t legally owed due process, asserting: “the Constitution is for Americans.” He drew quick backlash from within his own party.

“This type of misinformed rhetoric is embarrassing and does nothing to help New Yorkers,” Rep. Nydia Velázquez wrote on X.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who called for Adams to resign in the fall amid his legal scandal, also corrected the mayor. “This is a land of due process and America is a country of due process and we afford due process to all human beings who are within our borders,” she told the publication Migrant Insider.

Public Advocate Jumaane Williams accused the mayor of denigrating immigrants. “His rhetoric is as dangerous to our city as his leadership has been harmful,” Williams said in a statement.

Adams' mayoral challengers, including state Sen. Jessica Ramos of Queens, also weighed in. On X, Ramos alluded to the mayor’s own fight against federal corruption charges, writing, “Due process for me but not for thee, Mr. Mayor?

Adams has defended himself from his critics by pointing to the billions of dollars the city has spent on caring for migrants. More than 200,000 migrants have come through the city’s intake system since April 2022.

Before the mayor’s remarks last week, City Councilmember Alexa Avilés, who chairs the immigration committee, said Adams “seems to relish moving between Republican anti-immigrant talking points, and then Democratic sanctuary.”

In February, after two high-profile crimes involving migrants, Adams said he favored rolling back the 2014 sanctuary law, although he made no legislative effort to do so. When NYPD officials began expressing concerns of an unsubstantiated “migrant crime wave,” the mayor said migrants are largely law-abiding.

Nonetheless, Avilés said the mayor’s comments foster a misperception that immigrants are being held accountable for crimes.

In reality, she said, “What the law does is ensure there is due process.”

On Friday, Adams appeared to agree with Avilés and walked back the erroneous claim about due process that he made days earlier.

“This is a city that's open to all, and everyone has a right to the protections of the Constitution,” he said during an interview on WNYC's Morning Edition. “The whole dialogue that we were speaking about was those who are repeated offenders.”

“Our Constitution is for all of us,” he continued. Pressed to be more specific, he added: “Even for undocumented immigrants.”