(The Center Square) – A state judge in New York has extended a temporary restraining order barring federal immigration officials from setting up a permanent office at the Rikers Island jail.
The ruling issued Tuesday by state Supreme Court Judge Mary Rosado’s order, extended a temporary injunction blocking an order issued by New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ administration authorizing the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration to set up office space at the notorious prison.
The ruling came after more than an hour of oral arguments by attorneys for the New York City Council and Adam’s office over the move to relocate ICE agents.
First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro said the Adams administration was disappointed by the judge’s decision to keep the injunction in place, saying the plan to establish a federal office on Rikers Island “helps us in our mission to protect New Yorkers from violent transnational gangs.”
“We continue to disagree with the judge’s decision to prevent the city from moving forward – especially since no one is disputing that the executive order is in accordance with the law – and we are confident in our position,” Mastro said in a statement.
New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, who filed the lawsuit, praised the ruling and accused the mayor – whom she is challenging in the next election – of “betraying” New Yorkers by entering into an “illegal” agreement with the Trump administration.
“This attempted corrupt deal to allow ICE to set up a center on Rikers would only make our city, and all New Yorkers, less safe,” she said in a statement. “The council will continue to use our power and resources to protect New Yorkers from the Trump administration’s harmful agenda, and we look forward to the court’s decision on the preliminary injunction.”
The City Counci’s lawsuit says the Adams administration’s push for an ICE office was part of a “corrupt bargain” between Trump and Adams to drop a federal indictment against the mayor. It points out that the April 8 executive order was issued less than a week after a federal judge formally dropped the bribery and corruption case against Adams at the Justice Department’s behest.
Adams, running for reelection as an independent candidate, has denied allegations that he received a “quid pro quo” over his support for the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.
ICE agents previously had an office at the city-run jail, which is located on an island in New York City’s East River. However, the agency was banned from a permanent presence on the island in 2014 under New York City’s “sanctuary” laws, which limit cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.
Two weeks ago, a federal judge ordered Rikers to be put under the watch of an independent monitor citing “dangerous and unsafe” conditions inside the jail.
