Lawsuit contends mayor’s action is unlawful, tainted by conflict of interest created by quid pro quo related to his federal corruption case, and would undermine safety of all New Yorkers

City Hall, NY – Today, the New York City Council filed a lawsuit, requesting a temporary restraining order (TRO) and a preliminary injunction, against Mayor Eric Adams’ Executive Order 50 to invite the Trump administration’s ICE to operate an office in Rikers, which was issued by First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro on April 8. The lawsuit contends that the executive order is unlawful, tainted by the conflict of interest created by the corrupt bargain the mayor entered into – his personal freedom in exchange for an ICE office. The law is clear that the mayor is unable to cure that conflict of interest simply by delegating his authority to open an ICE office to Deputy Mayor Mastro. In seeking an immediate halt of any associated activity, the lawsuit outlines how the unlawful action would undermine public safety in New York City by eroding trust between local government, including local law enforcement, and New Yorkers. It also argues that the mayor never delegated the specified duty to Mastro, as required by the City Charter.

The Council’s legal filing can be found here:

Petition

Memo

“Once again, this City Council is standing firm to protect the rights and safety of all New Yorkers against attacks by the Trump administration—because the city’s mayor won’t stop placing his own personal interests ahead of the people of our city,” said Speaker Adrienne Adams. “Mayor Eric Adams clearly indicated his intention for this executive order when the Trump administration attempted to dismiss his corruption case in what prosecutors and Judge Ho saw as a quid pro quo. The mayor has compromised our city’s sovereignty and is now threatening the safety of all New Yorkers, which is why we are filing this lawsuit to halt his illegal order that he shamelessly previewed on the Fox News couch with Tom Homan. When New Yorkers are afraid of cooperating with our city’s own police and discouraged from reporting crime and seeking help, it makes everyone in our city less safe. This is a naked attempt by Eric Adams to fulfill his end of the bargain for special treatment he received from the Trump administration. New York cannot afford its mayor colluding with the Trump administration to violate the law, and this lawsuit looks to the court to uphold the basic standard of democracy, even if our mayor won’t.”

On the same day that the Trump administration’s Department of Justice ordered Mayor Adams’ federal corruption case dismissed without prejudice, the mayor met with Trump’s border czar Tom Homan and expressed his intention to invite ICE onto Rikers via executive order. The political intervention in the corruption case led several top federal prosecutors to resign and assert the actions amounted to a quid pro quo.  Federal Judge Dale Ho, who declined to immediately dismiss the case and sought independent arguments, indicated that “Everything here smacks of a bargain: dismissal of the indictment in exchange for immigration policy concessions.”

The Executive Order pertains to Local Law 58 of 2014 that prevents federal immigration authorities from maintaining an office on Rikers Island. Last week, the Council passed Resolution 836, authorizing Speaker Adams to take legal action to defend against the mayoral administration’s violation of Sanctuary Laws and the Trump Administration’s attacks on the City of New York.

“Mayor Adams’ willingness to trade away our city’s safety in exchange for personal protection isn’t just outrageous—it’s dangerous and unlawful,” said Deputy Speaker Diana Ayala. “New Yorkers deserve a mayor that defends our city and communities, not one that invites chaos upon us. Speaker Adrienne Adams and the Council are doing exactly what this moment demands: standing up for New Yorkers against a mayor failing to be accountable to the people of our city.”

“Personal political deals should never dictate city policy, especially when they threaten rights as fundamental as due process and public safety,” said Council Member Sandy Nurse, Chair of the Committee on Criminal Justice. “This unlawful executive order sets a dangerous precedent and makes our city less safe. Handing the keys of New York City government over to the Trump administration to dismantle New Yorkers’ rights cannot be allowed. We aren’t standing by while this corrupt deal unfolds – we will be fighting this in court and defending the integrity of our laws.”

“This isn’t public safety—it’s political blackmail,” said Council Member Alexa Avilés, Chair of the Committee on Immigration. “Turning Rikers into an outpost for the Trump administration’s extreme agenda has nothing to do with protecting New Yorkers and everything to do with the Mayor protecting himself. Selling out our city’s diverse immigrant communities that built this city to Trump will make every New Yorker less safe. The Council is taking this fight to court to defend our city when the mayor won’t and calling this what it is: a disgraceful and blatant quid pro quo.”

Excerpt from the Petition:

“Executive Order 50 is the poisoned fruit of Mayor Adams’s deal with the Trump Administration: if the Mayor cooperated with the administration’s immigration enforcement priorities, including by permitting ICE to operate on Rikers, the charges against him would be dismissed. Although it purports to be the product of Mastro’s “independent assessment, whether and under what circumstances to permit federal law enforcement authorities to have a presence on Rikers Island,” all available evidence confirms that the issuance of Executive Order 50 was the outcome demanded by the resolution of the Mayor’s criminal case, rather than the product of any “independent assessment” by Mastro.

“The Mayor’s decision to have Mastro issue the EO on April 8, 2025, does not magically cleanse the taint of conflict from the order. 

“Neither the Mayor nor Mastro claim that the Mayor was walled off from the decision-making process in any manner.  To the contrary, when asked, the Mayor explicitly denied that he was “recused” from the decision.” (pages 15 and 16)

Excerpt from the Petition:

“Notably, Executive Order 50 allows at least six other federal agencies besides ICE to open offices at city jails like Rikers—and the majority of those agencies have been recently deputized by the Trump Administration to conduct civil immigration enforcement. Hundreds of agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Homeland Security Investigations are now charged with carrying out the civil immigration law enforcement. To assume, then, that federal agents from these agencies would limit themselves to criminal investigatory work if permitted on Rikers is willfully blind. Even if the Mayor and Mastro intend for ICE to limit its activities on Rikers to criminal enforcement, as permitted under the City’s sanctuary laws, once ICE re-establishes a presence on the island, there is no reason to believe it will not use the opportunity to supercharge President Trump’s mass deportation agenda. Numerous experts have noted that the Mastro Executive Order gives ICE all of the tools it needs to carry out its civil deportation agenda. For example, Executive Order 50 contemplates that the DOC intelligence bureau partnering with the federal government to coordinate investigations and share information, but once information is shared, it cannot be un-learned—the bell cannot be unrung—and federal agents will be able to use that information beyond its intended purpose, including for civil immigration enforcement.” (pages 22 and 23)

Excerpt from the Petition:

“Furthermore, ICE has long been notorious for sweeping unintended targets into its enforcement activities, meaning that allowing ICE back onto Rikers for the purpose of criminal investigation purposes is only a short and slippery slope to civil immigration enforcement.  In fact, ICE routinely arrests immigrants who simply happen to be in the vicinity of its intended target, despite lacking a warrant or even probable cause with respect to those “collateral” arrestees. And it continues to do so in violation of a federal court order that limited this practice in 2022 but which it has flagrantly disregarded.” (pages 24 and 25)

Excerpts from the Memo:

“The Mayor cut a deal to secure his personal freedom in exchange for official mayoral actions that would abet President Trump’s mass deportation agenda. Such a quid pro quo deal, as the threat of future federal criminal charges create a conflict of interest that prevents the Mayor from himself issuing any executive orders about ICE on Rikers. That conflict was not cured by the Mayor’s “delegation” of authority to Mastro because, as a matter of law, a delegation without a recusal fails to cure a conflict. Accordingly, Mastro’s resulting executive order was tainted by the Mayor’s conflict and must be annulled.” (page 7)

“Indiscriminate removals harm more than just those who are deported, as immigrant New Yorkers account for roughly 38% of our city’s total population and often have a U.S. citizen spouse or children. And once ICE gets started, courts and City officials will be largely powerless to stop these harms from cascading. The impacts will not be confined to Rikers: enabling ICE to pursue its aggressive immigration on Rikers will irreparably erode the trust between local government and the New York residents that it serves.” (page 16)

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