NYC Council sues Mayor Adams over allowing ICE on Rikers, claims 'corrupt bargain' with Trump

Josephine Stratman, New York Daily News on Apr 15, 2025

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NEW YORK — The New York City Council has sued Mayor Eric Adams over an executive order that would allow federal immigration authorities to operate on Rikers Island, a source of friction across the city amid stepped-up immigration enforcement by the Trump administration.

The suit, filed Tuesday, claims that Adams entered into an unlawful quid pro quo agreement with the Trump administration, trading access to Rikers for federal immigration authorities in exchange for his case getting dropped. The suit also names First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro.

“Today, in New York City, a corrupt bargain is taking place in plain view: New York City Mayor Eric Adams, acting through his first deputy mayor, is using his official powers to pay off the Trump Administration for dropping criminal charges against him,” the suit reads, adding that the “purchase price” of the mayor’s case getting dropping is the “safety and wellbeing” of immigrant New Yorkers.

The executive order, issued last week, said the mayor would only permit Immigration and Customs Enforcement to use the office to pursue criminal enforcement investigations on Rikers targeting undocumented immigrants accused of serious crimes.

“While we will review the lawsuit, this one seems baseless and contrary to the public interest in protecting New Yorkers from violent criminals,” Kayla Mamelak, a spokesperson for the mayor, said in a statement. “We remain committed to our administration’s efforts to reduce crime and keep New Yorkers safe — we hope the City Council will join us in doing so.”

The suit, however, accuses the mayor and his administration of unlawfully promising feds that they would also be able to use Rikers to facilitate deportations — a civil enforcement mechanism not permitted under the city’s sanctuary laws.

The city’s Department of Corrections is also named as a respondent.

“Allowing ICE back onto Rikers for the purpose of criminal investigation purposes is only a short and slippery slope to civil immigration enforcement,” the suit reads.

Adams said last week that he delegated the order to Mastro this month “so no one can say that there’s some bias in the determination,” but the lawsuit says that’s irrelevant. The mayor had previously pledged to carry out the executive order on a February "Fox and Friends" appearance alongside Trump border czar Tom Homan, who said then he’d be “up his butt” if Adams didn’t follow through.

“The Mayor’s decision to have Mastro issue the executive order ... does not magically cleanse the taint of conflict from the order,” the Council claims.

Mamelak said that Mastro’s process was separate from the mayor and that he “independently concluded that a federal presence at Rikers to conduct federal criminal investigations is in New York City’s best interest.”

The council is asking the court to block the city from allowing ICE authorities on the jail complex and cancel the order, arguing that Mastro was never officially given the power to issue executive orders as required by the City Charter.

“This is a naked attempt by Eric Adams to fulfill his end of the bargain for special treatment he received from the Trump administration,” Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, who is running for mayor, said in a statement. “New York cannot afford its mayor colluding with the Trump administration to violate the law, and this lawsuit looks to the court to uphold the basic standard of democracy, even if our mayor won’t.”

The suit also notes that the executive order also opens the door to several other federal agencies, including the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Homeland Security Investigations, that have also been tasked by Trump to carry out deportation efforts.

The City Council last week empowered itself to sue Adams over the executive order, arguing the move was “the poisonous fruit” of the alleged deal with Trump’s administration.

The mayor was indicted in September on charges he carried out favors for agents of the Turkish government in exchange for illegal campaign contributions and other perks. He pleaded not guilty. The Justice Department moved to get his charges dropped in February, claiming the case prevented Adams from carrying out Trump’s immigration agenda, and the case was dropped earlier this month.

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