New York City voters in November could have the power to severely limit the NYPD’s ability to work with the federal government on immigration issues and repeal “falsely and dangerous” “sanctuary city” laws that are clearly a “threat to public safety.”
Assemblymembers Joe Borelli (R-Staten Island), Robert Holden (D-Queens) and six other members of the City Council’s Common Sense Caucus wrote a letter to the newly appointed Charter Revision Commission this week urging it to place a referendum on the ballot to decide whether to repeal “sanctuary” laws that help criminals avoid deportation.
“We are writing to urge the New York City Charter Revision Commission to move forward with a ballot initiative to ask voters whether they should repeal the recent so-called ‘sanctuary city’ laws that prohibit law enforcement and other agencies from working with federal authorities to assist in the detention or deportation of illegal immigrants and non-citizens who commit crimes in New York City,” the letter, dated Tuesday, said.
“We feel that these laws as currently interpreted are not only misguided and dangerous, but also stray far from their original purpose of promoting public safety. Ultimately, it is up to the voters to decide who is right.”
Earlier this month, Holden and Borelli drafted a bill to repeal the sanctuary law, but acknowledge it’s a pipe dream to think the council’s left-leaning majority would pass it.
So they are hoping to succeed with a commission appointed by Mayor Eric Adams, a former NYPD officer and moderate Democrat who has said current rules are too easy on crime.
Some members of the Common Sense Caucus plan to present their ballot initiative directly at upcoming committee hearings, and both Holden and Borelli said they believe voters would support their proposed ballot initiative.
The letter makes it clear that the city council members want New York to return to its original sanctuary city policy, first enacted in 1989 under then-Mayor Ed Koch to allow foreign victims of crimes to cooperate with authorities without fear of deportation.
But then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg amended the rules in 2011 to prohibit the city from complying with federal immigration detention requests unless a warrant was issued and the alien in question was on a terrorist watch list or had been convicted of a serious crime such as murder within the past five years.
A series of controversial left-wing policies pushed by then-Mayor Bill de Blasio between 2014 and 2018 dramatically further restricted the ability of the New York Police Department and the city’s Department of Corrections and Probation to cooperate with agents of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
It also prohibited the use of city buildings, including the Rikers Island jail facility, or other city resources to enforce federal immigration law.
Politico said the results of the changes were “as expected,” noting that the NYPD denied all 109 detention requests it received from ICE last year, while the Department of Corrections turned over only 11 of the 201 requested aliens.
The current system is a “threat to public safety,” they added.
For example, critics say Laken Riley, a slain Georgia nursing student, might still be alive today if it weren’t for sanctuary city policies.
The 22-year-old woman was found dead on the campus of the University of Georgia on February 22, six months after her murder suspect, Jose Antonio Ibarra, 26, was arrested in Queens and charged with child endangerment.
The NYPD was forced to release Ibarra, who was born in Venezuela, instead of turning him over to federal immigration authorities because he had no significant criminal history.
European Commission President Carlo Sisula will consider the letter but declined to comment further.
Kayla Mamelak, a spokeswoman for Mayor Adams, said it is the Charter Revision Commission’s job to decide what ballot issues to present to New Yorkers in November, and that the mayor “respects the independent decision the commission makes.”
