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What Trump’s new policies could mean for migrants in NYC charged with crimes
By
Samantha Max
Published Jan 24, 2025
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By
Samantha Max
Published Jan 24, 2025
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A swirl of executive orders, new legislation and fiery rhetoric in the first days of President Donald Trump’s administration have raised questions about who can be detained or deported.
Migrants who have been arrested face a heightened threat of removal, as the president and other elected officials argue that people who pose a threat to public safety shouldn’t be allowed to stay in the United States. More than half of New Yorkers surveyed in a recent Siena College poll said they support Trump’s plan to deport migrants living in the state illegally, and about two-thirds of respondents in a nationwide AP-NORC poll said they strongly favor removing unauthorized immigrants convicted of violent crimes. But advocates have expressed concerns that immigration agents could detain people before they have the chance to fight their charges in court.
Here’s what we know so far:
New York City has strict limits for when immigration officials can detain someone on Rikers
When an immigrant without legal status is arrested, federal immigration officials sometimes ask other law enforcement agencies to hold them in jail for several extra days or alert Immigration and Customs Enforcement before the person is released. These are called immigration detainers. The goal, according to ICE, is for agents to take the person into federal custody in a “controlled environment” instead of having to search for them in the community.
The City Council has passed various measures over the years to limit local cooperation with immigration detainers. Under city law, officials can only honor a detainer request if it meets a few requirements. First, immigration agents must have a judicial warrant signed by a federal judge that authorizes them to detain the person. If there’s a valid warrant, then local officials also have to confirm that the person has either been convicted of a “violent or serious crime” or is a possible match in a terrorist screening database.
The city Department of Correction received 347 requests for immigration detainers between July 1, 2023 and June 30, 2024, according to an annual report. The report says that jail officials didn’t hold any of those people for additional time, but nine people “experienced prolonged discharge processing times.” The agency said it transferred 15 people to federal immigration authorities. The report also noted some cases in which someone went from federal custody to DOC custody and back after facing local charges.
Federal officials aren’t supposed to arrest people when they’re in New York state courts
The Department of Homeland Security announced after Trump’s inauguration that the agency would stop following guidelines from the prior administration to limit immigration enforcement in “sensitive” areas, like schools and courts.
During the last Trump administration, state lawmakers passed the Protect Our Courts Act, which protects people from civil arrests in state courthouses in most circumstances. The measure bars immigration officials from detaining people who are attending court proceedings for themselves, as a witness or with a family member, unless they have a warrant or order signed by a judge. It also sets certain rules for immigration officials who enter state court buildings, like requiring them to identify themselves to court staff and let them know why they’re in court.
Agents who violate the law can be charged with contempt of court and false imprisonment. The attorney general or people who are wrongfully detained can also sue in civil court.
Al Baker, a spokesperson for the state Office of Court Administration, said the agency is continuing to follow the state law, which also prohibits civil arrests while people are entering or exiting the courthouse.
If the president signs a new bill, people could be deported before they’re convicted
Earlier this week, both the House and the Senate passed the Laken Riley Act, named for a nursing student who was killed by a Venezuelan man while running in Georgia. The measure would allow immigration officials to detain people who are charged with various crimes, including shoplifting, assaulting a law enforcement officer and serious bodily injury — even if they haven’t been convicted.
The measure wouldn’t change New York City’s detainer laws, but it would subject people facing certain criminal charges to mandatory ICE detention if they were arrested.
“People that are innocent until proven guilty are going to be subject to getting picked up by ICE,” said Cheryl Andrada, a staff attorney with the Legal Aid Society.
She said she and her colleagues are advising their clients of their rights but also setting up contingency plans in case they are detained.
Congress has sent the bill to the president, who is expected to sign it.
It’s not clear how Mayor Eric Adams will respond
Earlier this week, Mayor Eric Adams told town hall attendees in Queens that he’s going to “stand up for all New Yorkers” regardless of their immigration status and that people should continue to go school, go to the hospital and report crimes.
But he said last month that migrants who are accused of crimes shouldn’t have the same constitutional rights as citizens accused of crimes — like him.
“The Constitution is for Americans,” he said at a press conference. “And I’m not a person that snuck into this country.”
Adams said his “goal is to always give people due process” and wait until after they have served a sentence to be deported. But he said the city needs to “fix the immigration problem” and that people who shoot a police officer, for instance, should not be allowed to stay.
“My position is, people commit crimes in our city, you have abdicated your right to be in our city,” he said.
Correction: This story has been updated to clarify that, under the Laken Riley Act, it would be mandatory to hold undocumented immigrants charged with certain crimes in ICE detention.
Tagged
new york city
public safety
immigration
Samantha Max
Samantha reports on whether New Yorkers feel safe and whether the institutions that are supposed to protect them are working. Before coming to WNYC/Gothamist, she spent three years covering the criminal justice system in Tennessee for Nashville Public Radio. Her reporting on Nashville's police department received multiple awards, including the Daniel Schorr Journalism Prize. Samantha was also part of the inaugural class of Report for America, a service journalism program that sends up-and-coming reporters to local newsrooms across the country. She is a Northwestern University grad, a Baltimore native and fluent in Spanish. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or Signal: samanthamaxwnyc.93.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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