Overcoming NYC’s Extreme ‘Sanctuary’ Laws Demands a Unified Effort Against Local Far-Left Forces
Exciting update: Mayor Adams and Trump’s designated border czar, Tom Homan, appear to have found common ground during their meeting on Thursday.
However, the challenge remains: Can they persuade the City Council and Governor Hochul to join efforts in addressing the presence of thousands of “known offender” criminal illegal migrants in Gotham?
Adams has now supported Queens Councilman Robert Holden’s advocacy for reopening the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office at Rikers. Yet, city law prohibits allocating resources to assist ICE and prevents NYPD and correctional officials from reporting offenders to federal authorities.
While Adams seeks to adjust the law, the left-leaning City Council may be resistant to change.
Nevertheless, civic-minded officers and others might still influence the situation through anonymous tips to ICE, particularly since the chain of command seems amenable.
Perhaps the mayor’s legal team can devise an executive order to reconcile these differences.
However, achieving full cooperation would necessitate overturning the legislation enacted under Mayor Bill de Blasio, establishing a perplexing sanctuary system where only undocumented immigrants convicted of 170 felonies can potentially be handed over to ICE — and only if the agency requests.
This situation exceeds the original sanctuary orders put in place by Mayors Ed Koch and Rudy Giuliani, intended to protect crime victims or witnesses from deportation when cooperating with city law enforcement.
At the very least, Hochul has the power to revoke the executive order from then-Governor Andrew Cuomo that restricted ICE access to state courthouses.
Additionally, Congress could respond to a state court ruling labeling local compliance with federal ICE detainers as unlawful by establishing that illegal entry into the nation is a criminal offense, not merely a civil one.
Yet, both Congress and Team Trump will have to apply significant pressure on the City Council and other local progressive lawmakers nationwide who vehemently oppose any deportations, including those of MS-13 and Tren de Aragua gang members.
An effective strategy would include withholding substantial federal funds from localities enforcing extreme “sanctuary” policies.
Let’s see how progressives react to their “principles” when it entails reduced spending to uphold them — particularly if the federal cuts affect social programs rather than policing.
Linking all federal educational funding to immigration cooperation could sway the United Federation of Teachers to advocate for change.
Furthermore, Adams could leverage his new Charter Commission to present “sanctuary repeal” to city voters next year: This would not only render the law less attractive for the council to maintain but also instill fear among progressives of increased voter turnout intent on abolishing such extreme policies.
Getting known criminal migrants deported should be straightforward; unfortunately, securing the city government’s support involves navigating through some of the most entrenched opposition in town.
