Testimony on Int. 1412

SUMMARY

The Corrections and Community Reentry Committee (Karen Adelman and Paul Montuori, Co-Chairs) testified at a hearing before the New York City Council’s Committee on Immigration in support of Int. 1412-2025, which would bar federal immigration authorities from maintaining offices or quarters on land over which the New York City Department of Correction exercises jurisdiction, supersede any conflicting mayoral executive order or memorandum of understanding entered into by New York City, and amend several definitions in the Administrative Code to account for current immigration enforcement practices. “Prohibiting ICE from maintaining an office on Rikers Island will slow the federal government’s inhumane mass deportation efforts…. The individuals held at Rikers are already facing serious danger. They do not need to live in further fear that on-site immigration officers will separate them from their communities once they are released. The City Bar supports the necessary protections Intro 1412 will provide.”

TESTIMONY

ORAL TESTIMONY OF THE CORRECTIONS AND COMMUNITY RE-ENTRY COMMITTEE

HEARING BEFORE THE NEW YORK CITY COUNCIL
COMMITTEE ON IMMIGRATION

SUPPORT FOR INT. 1412-2025

DECEMBER 8, 2025

My name is Karen Adelman and I am the co-chair of the New York City Bar Association’s Corrections and Community Re-Entry Committee. Our Committee has been deeply focused on the crisis at Rikers Island. We sponsored a CLE on the state of the Nuñez matter and submitted an amicus brief regarding the receivership. Rikers Island remains a human rights catastrophe and closing the jail on time in accordance with the law should be a top priority of this Council and the incoming administration over the next two years.

Intro 1412, of course, will not solve the problems on Rikers Island. But it will stop one very specific problem from getting worse. As everyone here knows, since the new federal administration took power, it has vastly expanded immigration enforcement, not only through the warrantless street stops we have all seen on the news, but also by expanding the use of so-called “mandatory detention” in immigration facilities that are just as crowded, dirty, and unsafe as the jails. And a key component of the federal government’s agenda is to use local law enforcement and local jails as so-called “force multipliers” of its manpower.

Prohibiting ICE from maintaining an office on Rikers Island will slow the federal government’s inhumane mass deportation efforts. The Department of Correction’s (“DOC”) unfortunate history of cooperation with ICE has already impacted your constituents. Just last year, the City agreed to a $92.5 million settlement for individuals held by DOC unlawfully on ICE detainers. The City Bar also supports updating the definition of “immigration officer” to close any loopholes the administration may try to use to station officers in the jails. And we appreciate that the law would supersede any mayoral executive order. We applaud the Council’s successful litigation earlier this year against Mayor Adams’s unlawful order.

The individuals held at Rikers are already facing serious danger. They do not need to live in further fear that on-site immigration officers will separate them from their communities once they are released. The City Bar supports the necessary protections Intro 1412 will provide. Thank you.

Corrections and Community Re-Entry Committee
Karen Adelman, Co-Chair
Andrew C. Case