Council Dems nix Eric fix bid on migrant laws
The Democrat-controlled City Council has been blasted as “out of touch” by local Republicans for swatting down Mayor Adams’ call to change the Big Apple’s sanctuary policy in order to more easily deport migrants accused of crimes.
Council Speaker Adrienne Adams (inset) on Wednesday called Hizzoner’s suggestion “harmful” and said lawmakers were not planning on fixes to the law.
“We are not considering changes to laws. These laws have been in effect for decades,” she said during an unrelated press conference at City Hall. “I think that it would be harmful to retract and go backwards instead of going forward as far as the law is concerned.”
Mayor Adams on Tuesday called for a change in the current policy — which severely limits communication between local and federal authorities — saying he believes the city should better cooperate with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement to potentially deport migrants “suspected” of carrying out “serious” crimes.
‘Commonsense NYers’
“I want to go back to the standards of the previous mayors who I believe subscribe to my belief that people who are suspected of committing serious crimes in the city should be held accountable,” the moderate Democrat told reporters.
The move was welcomed by Republicans, who earlier this month blamed left-leaning New York laws for leaving ICE powerless to stop migrants accused of jumping two NYPD cops from skipping town.
“Even those New Yorkers who prefer we be a welcoming sanctuary city are willing to say enough is enough when people are here committing repeated and violent crimes,” said Council Minority Leader Joseph Borelli (R-SI).
“It is a privilege to go through our justice system, even in this country. And if you don’t have a right to be here, and you’re not following our laws, we don’t have to avail you of those privileges,” he told The Post on Wednesday.
Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, also a Staten Island Republican, agreed: “If the City Council won’t repeal, it just reaffirms how radical and out of touch they are.
“I appreciate NYC Mayor agreeing with commonsense New Yorkers that illegal immigrants who commit crimes in our city should be deported,” the congresswoman said in a statement.
“If he’s serious about changing the city’s sanctuary laws, he should take executive action or give the City Council legislation to repeal the disastrous 2014 sanctuary law to untie the hands of our NYPD and allow them to cooperate with federal immigration officials who can deport these dangerous individuals from our city,” she added.
Existing law prohibits the city from cooperating with federal immigration authorities if a foreign national has been charged with a crime but not convicted — laws strengthened under Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration.
Mayor Adams has been mugged by reality: He’s finally suggesting changes to sanctuary laws so cops can cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on criminal-migrant suspects.
Though most migrants are law-abiding, those who aren’t shouldn’t be allowed to “hide under” sanctuary laws. New Yorkers have seen a surge in migrant crime, some with connections to violent gangs.
Notorious Venezuelan street gang Tren de Aragua is implicated in a series of cellphone robberies and other illegal acts.
A shocking surveillance video captured a mob of migrants swarm and beat a pair of NYPD officers near Times Square.
The city’s sanctuary laws make it illegal for municipal agencies to notify ICE or provide it with any information about migrants suspected of most crimes. If Adams manages to have those laws reversed or significantly modified, federal deportation proceedings would be triggered once a migrant’s criminal case is concluded.
Yet Council Speaker Adrienne Adams has already shot down his trial balloon on sanctuary laws. The mayor can try to end-run any council opposition with his own executive orders , but legislation, or even a charter revision, would provide more of a lasting impact. The public would surely back him up. New Yorkers may welcome migrants with open arms, but those who repay that kindness by attacking their hosts deserve no such generosity. When they’re even just suspected of crimes, the feds clearly have a role to play. Pray Hizzoner succeeds in scrapping Gotham’s sanctuary-city lunacy.