New York Judge Blocks ICE Agents From Rikers Island Prison

A New York judge Monday blocked Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents from entering Rikers Island, setting up a major battle between Mayor Eric Adams and the liberal-dominated New York City Council.

State Supreme Court Judge Mary Rosado has temporarily barred Adams’ office and the city Department of Correction from moving forward with an executive order allowing ICE agents onto Rikers Island, the city’s largest jail complex, until a court challenge is further played out, according to an order handed down by Rosado. Rosado demanded that City Hall not take “any steps” toward finalizing the executive order until at least Friday.

The temporary restraining order may be “extended, modified, or vacated” during the next hearing on Friday, Rosado said.

The ruling comes after the New York City Council — which had publicly denounced Adams’ move to allow ICE agents back onto Rikers Island — filed a lawsuit to stop the order from being implemented. NYC Council members have accused the mayor, without evidence, of a conspiracy to help the Trump administration with its immigration agenda in exchange for unrelated federal charges against him to be dropped.

“This isn’t public safety — it’s political blackmail,” Council Member Alexa Aviles said in a prepared statement. “Turning Rikers into an outpost for the Trump administration’s extreme agenda has nothing to do with protecting New Yorkers and everything to do with the Mayor protecting himself.”

“The Council is taking this fight to court to defend our city when the mayor won’t and calling this what it is: a disgraceful and blatant quid pro quo,” Aviles said.

The Big Apple has long had incredibly tight sanctuary laws on the books, restricting how local officials can interact with ICE agents.

Former mayor Bill De Blasio in 2014 signed into law a bill that largely blocks the New York Police Department from working with federal immigration authorities. He enacted legislation in 2018 that doubled down on the policy. ICE has since been prohibited from entering Rikers Island, preventing its agents from assuming custody of criminal illegal migrants.

Since an overwhelming illegal migration crisis began in New York City in the spring of 2022, Adams has called for changes to these sanctuary city laws restricting cooperation between local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities. Adams’ office repeatedly held discussions with ICE leaders in 2024, and the mayor personally sat down with border czar Tom Homan more than once to discuss strategy.

Following a February meeting with Homan, the mayor said he was working on an executive order that would allow immigration agents back onto Rikers Island. Adams said at the time that collaboration with ICE would focus on dangerous criminal migrants.

In April, that pledge was finally realized with the release of Executive Order 50, a decree allowing ICE agents back onto Rikers. The order was incredibly limited in scope, only allowing ICE and other federal agencies to open offices at the prison complex for the purpose of conducting criminal investigations, not for any routine enforcement of immigration laws.

This limited order focusing on criminal migrants, however, still enraged the liberal-dominated City Council, which lodged a lawsuit on April 15 to block it from being implemented.

Adams has denied making any deals with his now-dropped criminal case. A spokesperson for his office referred to the City Council’s lawsuit as “baseless and contrary to the public interest in protecting New Yorkers from violent criminals.”