Caribbean immigration advocates welcomed a major authorized victory on Friday because the Supreme Courtroom of the State of New York issued a preliminary injunction blocking New York Metropolis Mayor Eric Adams from opening an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) workplace at Rikers Island Correctional Facility.
This motion follows a lawsuit filed by the New York Metropolis Council on April 15, looking for each a short lived restraining order (TRO) and a preliminary injunction in opposition to Mayor Adams’ Government Order 50. The order, issued on April 8 by First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro, would have allowed ICE to function an workplace at Rikers Island, facilitating the deportation of Caribbean and different immigrants.
On Friday, State Supreme Courtroom Choose Mary Rosado granted the preliminary injunction, halting additional implementation of the manager order. This resolution builds on her earlier interim TRO, issued on April 21, which prohibited the execution or negotiation of any Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) associated to the order.
“Justice prevailed in New York Metropolis at present as Mayor Adams was blocked from launching yet one more assault on our immigrant neighbors,” mentioned Murad Awawdeh, president and CEO of the New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC), an umbrella advocacy group representing over 200 immigrant and refugee rights organizations throughout New York.
Awawdeh burdened the impression of the ruling: “The State Supreme Courtroom’s ruling will successfully forestall hundreds of New Yorkers a 12 months from being deported just because they have been accused, not even convicted, of against the law.”
He additional criticized the mayor’s plan, stating, “New York Metropolis shouldn’t be within the enterprise of finishing up Donald Trump’s mass disappearance agenda, which is, the truth is, unlawful below our native legal guidelines.”
The NYIC president additionally praised the Metropolis Council for its decisive response: “We’ll hold combating for a future the place each single New Yorker – regardless of after they arrived right here – can dwell their lives freed from concern.”
This court docket ruling represents a major step within the ongoing debate over immigration enforcement insurance policies in New York Metropolis, notably in regards to the Caribbean immigrant neighborhood and others weak to deportation below the proposed ICE workplace at Rikers Island.