New York City liberal
Mayor Bill de Blasio signed two bills Friday limiting the city’s cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement — and kicking out the agency from Rikers Island jail and "all city facilities."
"What these bills do is they protect the rights of undocumented immigrants, of visa holders, and legal permanent residents alike, all of whom have suffered under the previous approach, and ultimately prevent families from being torn apart," the mayor said at a news conference in Queens,
the Observer reports.
The borough has experienced the biggest influx of immigrants in the city.
ICE issues requests, called detainers, to local law enforcement agencies — like the New York City Police Department or the Department of Correction — asking them to hold someone even after their case has been resolved, often without a warrant.
The new laws only allow the agencies to honor a detainer if it comes with a federal warrant — and even then, only if the person in question has been convicted of a violent or serious felony in the last five years, or is a possible match on the terrorist watch list.
The bills also remove ICE officials from maintaining an office at Rikers Island and other city facilities, the mayor's office said.
"All New York City residents, whether U.S.-born citizens or undocumented immigrants, should be treated fairly and appropriately," City Counsel Maya Wiley said in a statement,
Buzz Feed reports.
"Most removal cases result in immigrants being permitted to stay in the country. But fathers and mothers might be locked up for no good reason, only to be later released. That is neither fair nor appropriate. By requiring a judicial warrant of removal, we do the right thing by families."
The new legislation in the nation's largest city comes as
President Barack Obama vows to use his executive authority to shield 5 million illegal immigrants.
According to the mayor’s office, the new policy could bring the percentage of detainers honored to "virtually zero" and would prevent between 2,000 and 3,000 New Yorkers per year being held.
De Blasio used the bill-signing to blast Congress for failing to act on comprehensive immigration reform, the Observers reports.
"You look at cities around the country and some states even, they’re already acting in the absence of federal leadership," he said. "And I think what happens, I think our nation’s history speaks to this, is when — one city acts, then another city acts, then a state acts, then another state acts — slowly but surely it becomes national policy. It becomes irresistible."