Despite Mayor Eric Adams’ claims that Rikers Island will finally open its doors to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the prison has continued to block deportation attempts, including refusing to hand over an illegal migrant accused of burning a woman alive.
After dealing with an immigration crisis that cost local taxpayers billions of dollars and repeatedly vowing to work around a City Council that strongly supports sanctuary city policies, Adams announced in February that he would issue an executive order allowing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents access to Rikers Island, New York City’s largest prison facility. However, several weeks after the vow, no order has been signed, and the administration’s appeals for the high-profile criminal migrant’s surrender have been ignored.
“No matter who you are, if you are hurting innocent people in this city and in this country, you don’t have a right to be in our country,” Adams said in a February televised interview with border czar Tom Homan. Earlier that day, he announced his plan to allow ICE agents onto Rikers Island.
“To be clear, I’m not standing in the way of ICE’s job to apprehend criminal migrants. “I’m collaborating,” Adams stated.
However, Adams has yet to sign the order, and a representative for the mayor confirmed to the Daily Caller News Foundation that it is still being worked on.
The situation has escalated since the arrest of Sebastian Zapeta-Calil, a Guatemalan illegal migrant apprehended in December for the heinous murder of Debrina Kawam, a homeless New Jersey woman. Kawam was sleeping on a subway train one December morning when Zapeta allegedly set her garments on fire and fanned the flames until she was completely engulfed.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who recently visited the Coney Island subway station where Kawam was slain, stated that the New York City Department of Corrections has indicated that it will not respect an immigration detainer for Zapeta, who is presently being imprisoned at Rikers.
An ICE representative confirmed to the DCNF that the agency filed a detainer for Zapeta, demanding that NYC officials provide a time and date of his release and hold him for up to an additional 48 hours to allow a deportation officer to arrive on the spot. However, the NYC Corrections Department confirmed to the agency that even if Zapeta was freed from detention, the detainer would not be honored.
The NYC Department of Corrections did not respond to the DCNF’s requests for comment on the detainer submitted against Zapeta.
Homan, who is in charge of the Trump administration’s deportation operations, stated that his agents will go to whatever length to take control of Zapeta, even standing outside the jail all day, every day.
When asked for comment on the apparent lack of action on a Rikers Island executive order, an ICE representative referred the DCNF back to the mayor’s office. Homan did not return a request for comment.
“Obviously, we want Mayor Adams to follow through on his commitments regarding Rikers,” Councilwoman Vickie Paladino told the DCNF.
Paladino, a Republican member of the City Council, has long advocated for NYC to crack down on illegal migrant crime and assist ICE in its goal. She did, however, acknowledge the significant challenges Adams faced.
“[Adams’] promise to sign an executive order is under legal threat from the state of New York, including the Governor and [New York State Attorney General Letitia James], who are actively fighting on behalf of these criminals,” Paladino told reporters. “Frankly, it’s outrageous that anyone would try to stand in the way of these very basic, minimal concessions to common sense and the will of the voters, but that’s where we are.”
“The Mayor is one person, and progressives wield a lot of authority here. “They’ve made the city virtually unmanageable,” she added. “Without a serious effort to clean house—including massive federal investigations—there may not be much anyone locally can do for us even if they want to.”
New York City, the largest sanctuary city in the United States, had been a focal point for the country’s immigration crisis, which began during the Biden administration. Adams previously stated that more than 230,000 migrants have arrived in the Big Apple since the spring of 2022, costing the city over $7 billion in expenses.
Numerous crimes committed by illegal migrants in New York City have received national attention, including when a group allegedly went on a shopping spree and beat down a New York Police Department (NYPD) officer, when an illegal migrant allegedly fired at two NYPD cops during a foot pursuit, and the alleged rape of a 13-year-old girl at knifepoint by an illegal migrant.
The hefty fees and high-profile offenses drove Adams to the right on the issue—at least rhetorically. The Democrat mayor has been meeting with ICE officials since at least May 2024 to discuss how to circumvent the city’s sanctuary laws, and he has publicly challenged the public to “cancel me” if they want to talk immigration with Homan.
However, all attempts to make significant progress appear to have failed. A proposal by a group of moderate NYC council members to repeal the city’s sanctuary status was quickly defeated in the liberal-dominated City Hall, and an attempt to put the choice in the hands of NYC voters through an election ballot was disallowed by the Charter Revision Commission.
“Common sense Council Members have been demanding the repeal of sanctuary city laws for years—laws that prevent NYC jails from honoring ICE detainers and allow dangerous criminals to walk free,” Democrat Council Member Robert Holden posted on social media. As co-chairman of the moderate Common-Sense Caucus in City Hall, Holden has become a vocal critic of Adams’ inaction on immigration enforcement reform.
“We introduced legislation that the Council refused to debate. The mayor had the opportunity to place this on last year’s ballot but failed.” He promised executive orders but did nothing,” Holden added. “This is lunacy.”
When asked if any immigration policies have changed since Adams teased an executive order, the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs referred the DCNF back to a spokesperson for Adams. However, the commissioner for the immigrant affairs office, Manuel Castro, confirmed to City Council members Thursday that no sanctuary laws or policies have been amended.
However, one immigration policy appears to have changed in recent days. Following a vote by city lawmakers, illegal migrants now have fewer requirements to obtain a municipal residency ID card.
“My only advice to Mayor Adams now is to stand up for himself. Sign the order and make the progressives work to override it,” Paladino said.