Democrat Judge Mary Rosado of the New York Supreme Court has determined that New York City Mayor Eric Adams can’t cooperate with United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) by allowing the government agency to operate at Rikers Island, at least not for now.
Here’s the just of what’s going on here: The New York City Council sued Mayor Adams last week, accusing him of making a “corrupt bargain” with the Donald Trump administration. The council basically believes that Adams made some sort of quid pro quo bargain with Trump, agreeing to cooperate with the president’s deportation plans in exchange for having his own federal corruption charges dropped.
Adams, of course, denies any of this, and his team says that the reason he wants to allow ICE to operate at the Rikers Island jail complex is to deport dangerous criminals who are in the country illegally — members of gangs like MS-13 and Tren de Aragua who have already violated the law. He also says that there is no plan to conduct any civil immigration enforcement.
The council also says that Trump’s deportation plans are illegal, as is allowing ICE to operate there. ICE previously had an office at Rikers, but it shut down in 2014 when Bill de Blasio, who was mayor at the time, turned New York into a sanctuary city.
On April 8, First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro signed an executive order that would allow ICE to return to the jail complex. The council’s lawsuit also states that he does not have the power to take such actions. Adams claims he was simply delegating his duties to avoid a perceived conflict of interest.
National Review reports that “The council is notably led by Speaker Adrienne Adams, who is running in the Democratic mayoral primary this year.” Adams, who was formerly running for re-election as a Democrat, is now running as an Independent.
A spokesperson for Adams said that, “Allowing ICE to operate an office on Rikers Island and carry out Trump’s destabilizing and extremist mass deportation agenda would make everyone in our city less safe.”
(Getting rid of criminals makes a city less safe? Got it.)
So, at the request of the city council, Judge Rosado issued a temporary restraining order against the Adams administration, writing, “City Hall and all other New York City government officials, officers, personnel and agencies are prohibited from taking any steps towards negotiating, signing or implementing any memoranda of understanding with the federal government regarding federal law enforcement presence on Department of Correction property.”
The order will stay in place until a hearing scheduled for Friday, after which she may extend, modify or vacate it.
Other New York City officials applauded the decision.
Judge Rosado’s ruling is a welcome decision to halt implementation of this corrupt and lawless Executive Order.
NYC should be standing up to @realDonaldTrump‘s mass deportation agenda, not fueling it.
And we should be working harder to close Rikers, not adding more… https://t.co/PXfnNm2tdi
— Office of New York City Comptroller Brad Lander (@NYCComptroller) April 21, 2025
So, basically, you have one random judge holding the mayor of a major city and the president of the United States hostage. We’ll see what happens on Friday, but I have a feeling this is far from over. And the more I read about the New York City Council, the more thankful I am that I live in a red state. It’s almost as if they speak an entirely different language from the rest of the country.
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