Two New York City council members are working bipartisan together to introduce a bill that would end sanctuary policies put in place under former Mayor Bill de Blasio.
City Council members Robert Holden, a Democrat, and Joe Borelli, a Republican, plan to introduce legislation on Thursday that would reverse the de Blasio-era policy and make it easier for city law enforcement to cooperate with federal immigration authorities, city officials said. Report from the New York Post.
“Sanctuary city laws put all New Yorkers, both immigrants and longtime residents, at risk by preventing the NYPD and police from working with Immigration and Customs Enforcement,” Holden told the New York Post. “We don’t need to import criminals, and just 23 years after 9/11, we’ve forgotten the deadly consequences of poor communication between agencies. These laws must be repealed immediately.”
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New York City Mayor Eric Adams (AP Photo/Peter K. Afriye, File)
The bill, which would repeal restrictions banning the New York Police Department (NYPD) and the Department of Corrections and Probation from cooperating with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), is likely to face strong opposition from the city’s Democratic-majority Legislature.
The bill would also overturn rules that bar city officials from working with ICE on federal immigration matters, the New York Post reported.
The bipartisan effort was launched after several high-profile immigration crimes, including the murder of Georgia nursing student Laken Riley.
Hundreds of asylum seekers line up outside the Jacob K. Javits Federal Building on June 6, 2023 in New York City. (David Dee Delgado/Getty Images)
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“Like most things in New York, the sanctuary city policy is a social experiment that’s gone off the rails,” Borelli told the New York Post. “All of the problems with these local ordinances were made clear during the public hearing process, but the City Council just stepped on the gas.”
New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who succeeded de Blasio, has in the past signaled his intention to relax the city’s sanctuary policies, with the New York Post reporting that he has called for immigrants “suspected” of “serious” crimes to be turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Asylum seekers line up outside the historic Roosevelt Hotel, which has been converted into a city-run shelter for newly arrived immigrant families in New York City. (Selcuk Acar/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
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Adams has not yet said whether he would support the new bill, and his office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
