NYC Council Condemns Mayor’s Memo Giving ICE Access to Schools

NEW YORK, New York – The New York City Council on Friday strongly condemned Mayor Eric Adams for circulating a memo directing city agencies to allow Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to search schools, the shelter system and other locations if staff feels “threatened.”

The City Council said the memo “sets a new threshold of ‘reasonably feel[ing] threatened or fear[ing] for…safety’ for which the employee ‘should give the officer the information they have asked for (if available to you) or let them enter the site’ without a judicial warrant.” 

In a joint statement, City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, Deputy Speaker Diana Ayala, and Council Member Alexa Avilés, chair of the Committee on Immigration, said: “The new memo provided by Mayor Adams’ administration is highly irresponsible, confusing, and dangerous to New Yorkers and our workforce. 

“It runs counter to what the administration communicated to the Council at our recent public hearing and in other venues,” they said. “This updated guidance is inconsistent with city law and also exceeds the policy guidance, required by local law, for how city agencies should interact with non-local law enforcement. 

“Its effect will be to give special treatment to the extreme actions of the Trump administration’s agencies,” they added. “This represents a betrayal of New Yorkers and our city. Therefore, Speaker Adams, Ayala and Avilés called on the mayor to “rescind the problematic areas of this new guidance and instead provide clear direction that is in compliance with local laws and consistent with city policies.”

“The mayor and every deputy mayor have the responsibility to prioritize New York City and New Yorkers, not cater to the Trump’s administration’s extremism that seeks to sow fear and tear New York City families apart,” they said, stating that the City Council is considering “all its legal options to reverse this appalling memo and hold the administration accountable.”

Murad Awawdeh, president and chief executive officer of the New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC), an umbrella policy and advocacy organization that represents over 200 immigrant and refugee rights groups throughout New York, said on Friday that the memo “once again makes clear: Mayor Eric Adams does not respect the law. 

“It’s one thing for Adams to waffle on his commitment to New York City’s sanctuary policies while cozying up to Trump, it’s entirely another when he sanctions his agency staff and city employees to completely disregard those same local laws when it suits them,” Awawdeh told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC). 

“While the Trump administration is weaponizing our government and ICE to separate families, Eric Adams is turning his back on immigrant New Yorkers to score points with the Trump administration and pursue his own agenda to end legal challenges on corruption charges,” he added.

“This shameful action is turning what should be safe havens for all New York families into potential traps and making New York City complicit in carrying out Trump’s cruel agenda,” Awawdeh continued, stating that the mayor’s new directive will “further force families into the shadows and leave countless New Yorkers vulnerable to detention and deportation simply for accessing basic services. 

“We call on the Adams administration to reverse this dangerous policy immediately and reaffirm that New York remains a true sanctuary for all our communities or face civil litigation,” he said. 

On Thursday, New York legislators and community leaders joined the NYIC in rallying at St. Mark’s Church in-the-Bowery in lower Manhattan against what they characterized as “the devastating new federal directive that strips longstanding protections from immigrant New Yorkers who seek resources in sensitive locations including hospitals, schools and houses of worship.”

“The Trump administration’s dangerous policy change exposes millions of New Yorkers — especially our most vulnerable neighbors — to immigration enforcement at sensitive locations,” said Awawdeh.

He said these locations include schools where children seek education; hospitals and health clinics providing essential care; places of worship offering spiritual refuge; domestic violence shelters protecting vulnerable families; emergency response sites during disasters; and community gatherings, including funerals, weddings and religious ceremonies.

“Trump’s reckless sensitive location directive is an assault on New York’s immigrant communities and threatens the safety of all New Yorkers,” Awawdeh said. “When parents fear sending their children to school or seeking emergency medical care or reporting crimes, our entire city suffers.

“New York State and New York City must use their full authority to shield our communities from these destructive raids that tear families apart and undermine public safety, and Congress must step up in this moment to pass the Protecting Sensitive Locations Act,” he added.

“The time for action is now,” Awawdeh continued. “New York must stand firm against this deliberate campaign of fear and intimidation targeting our most vulnerable neighbors.”

New York State Senator John Liu, who represents District 16 in northeast Queens, said: “This reckless rollback by the Trump administration undermines the trust that is essential in our schools, places of worship, hospitals and other community spaces.

“No child should ever fear that their parent could be taken away at school drop-off, and no family should have to choose between seeking medical care and avoiding deportation” added the chairperson of the Senate’s committee on New York City Education and also serves on the committees of Education, Finance, Higher Education, Judiciary, Rules and Transportation.

“We must remain steadfast in our commitment to protecting immigrant communities, and condemn these federal policies that sow fear and division and make everyone less safe and secure,” continued Liu, a former comptroller of the City of New York (2010-2013) and a New York City Councilmember (2002-2009).

Dr. Steve Auerbach, a physician with New York Doctors (NYDocs) Coalition, noted that “doctors and other healthcare workers swore an oath that applies to the care and wellbeing of all our patients and all New Yorkers, regardless of country of origin or status.

“[The non-public patient-care areas of all] ERs, hospitals and clinics must remain free of ICE and any other immigration policing, so all our patients can be cared for securely, safely, and with the same privacy we all expect,” he said. “We call on our healthcare institutions to provide the clear messaging, guidance, and training that we need to prevent such disruptions in care for all our patients.”

The Rev. Dr. Chloe Breyer, executive director, Interfaith Center of New York, said: “Mosques in the Bronx, temples in Queens and churches and synagogues in Manhattan share a commitment to religious liberty with a wide range of faith leaders and elected officials, both locally and nationally.

“Trump’s rollback of the sensitive site policy violates religious liberty by defining direct service as a non-essential to religious practice and by creating a chilling effect for worship in certain faith communities,” she said. “We call on our courts, and our city and state elected officials to stand up for our basic rights and the rule of law.”  

Lara Evangelista, executive director, Internationals Network for Public Schools, and a leader of NY-AFFIRMs, said, “Students and families are scared.

“Despite the orders and new policies, students still have a legal right to attend public school,” she said. “In New York City, the lengthy instructions boil down to this: Stop non-local enforcement at the door and call the NYCPS assigned lawyer.

“While fear may make it hard for parents and students to feel comfortable going to school, know this: Schools and educators are prepared to do what is right by their students and what they are legally required to do,” she added.

New York State Assemblywoman Monique Chandler-Waterman, the daughter of Jamaican and Barbadian immigrants, noted that New York City “has always been highlighted as a melting pot called to serve all New Yorkers.

“Unfortunately, the current overreach of enforcement policies that we have witnessed in this nation and throughout this state, over the past few days, have had no consideration for the broader impact of these oppressive measures on our Black and Brown Caribbean communities,” said the representative for the 58th Assembly District in Brooklyn, who, on Wednesday, stood with her colleagues on the state and local level demanding that New York City Mayor Eric Adams and his administration rescind ICE cooperation guidance that has been recently sent to the New York City Health and Hospitals network.

“This measure puts them in a compromising position, moving them away from focusing away from healthcare needs,” added Chandler-Waterman, pledging to continue to working with her district’s taskforce “to host more legal immigrant clinics with my colleagues and ensure that our communities are aware of their rights.”

Brooklyn lawmakers on Thursday urged City Hall to rescind recently-shared guidance on NYC Health + Hospitals’ cooperation with federal immigration authorities, and to instead clarify that all New Yorkers should feel comfortable seeking care at public hospitals, regardless of their immigration status.

New York State Senator Zellnor Y. Myrie, representative for the 20th Senate District in Brooklyn, hosted the press conference outside Kings County Hospital in central Brooklyn.

He was joined by Haitian-born Council Member Rita Joseph; New York State Assembly Member Phara Souffrant, the daughter of Haitian immigrants; and Chandler-Waterman.

“Growing up in this community, my parents often brought me to Kings County for asthma treatment— even before they were citizens,” said Myrie, whose grandmother hailed from Jamaica. “Without this care, I might not be alive today.

“The recent guidance from City Hall could intimidate people in this community and prevent them from seeking lifesaving care,” he added. “Our public hospitals must remain safe places for every New Yorker, regardless of their immigration status.”