A coalition of city council members demanded this week that Governor Hockle must use his emergency powers to grant a temporary waiver to New York City's controversial “sanctuary city” law because of the heightened terrorist threat caused by the ongoing immigration crisis.
“New York City is a prime target for terrorism, and we cannot afford to become complacent in the face of such threats,” said Councilmen Robert Holden, a Queens Democrat, Joe Borelli, a Staten Island Republican, and nine other City Council members. “Common sense” I wrote this on Wednesday.
Sanctuary laws prevent U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement from fully cooperating with local law enforcement, which “severely impedes our efforts to ensure the safety of our residents,” they wrote.
“The recent surge in violent crime, including reported rapes, robberies, assaults and even shootings at police officers by immigrant gangs in Central Park and Queens parks, requires immediate and decisive action,” the official added.
The six Republicans and three moderate Democrats highlighted other issues, including the arrests of Tajikistani nationals affiliated with ISIS-K in New York, Los Angeles and Philadelphia in June, as well as a report released last month by the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General that “revealed significant deficiencies in border screening procedures and underscored the seriousness of the terrorist threat.”
The governor can temporarily suspend New York City's sanctuary city status through an executive order, but any permanent changes must be approved by the City Council, which is dominated by left-leaning politicians.
New York's sanctuary status dates back to 1989, when then-Mayor Ed Koch created it to ensure that foreign nationals who were victims of crimes could cooperate with authorities without fear of deportation.
The rules have been updated three times, including through a series of controversial left-wing policies enacted into law by then-Mayor Bill de Blasio and Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito between 2014 and 2018 that significantly restricted the ability of the NYPD and the city's Department of Corrections and Probation to work with ICE agents.
The rule change also prohibited the use of city buildings, including the Rikers Island jail facility, and other city resources to enforce federal immigration law.
In February, Mayor Eric Adams called for relaxing the rules to allow immigrants “suspected” of “serious” crimes to be turned over to ICE, as was done under the city's previous sanctuary policy.
Hoekl's staff did not return messages.
In June, council members called on the mayor-appointed Charter Revision Commission to hold a referendum to decide whether to revert sanctuary laws to the pre-de Blasio era.
The Commission refused to address the issue.
Caucus co-chairs Holden and Borelli have also drafted a bill to repeal the sanctuary law, but acknowledge it's a pipe dream to believe it would pass.
