‘Sanctuary city’ of New York not legally allowed to turn illegal immigrants over to ICE

Democrat Mayor Eric Adams told Fox 5 about the obstacles his administration is facing when it comes to the crisis.

"We cannot by law tell someone if they come into the city, you cannot come into the city," said Adams. "I don't have the authorization to tell people that they can't come into New York City."

"We can't even turn them over to ICE," he asserted. "It's against the law. The law states that we cannot notify ICE. I cannot break the law and enforce the law."

Adams explained that both state and local law enforcement officers are not allowed to detain illegal immigrants and hand them over to ICE due to the New York For All Act which prohibits state and local officers from doing so, according to the Daily Mail.

Mayor Adams, who once boasted of the sanctuary city policies, has changed his tune ever since more than 161,000 illegal immigrants have arrived in New York City since 2022, taking up vital resources and aid that Adams says the city no longer has. Many of those who come are bussed or flown into the city by governors of border states like Texas.

"We're out of room, literally," Adams explained. "People are going to be eventually sleeping on the streets."

Over the past few months, Mayor Adams has lambasted the Biden administration for refusing to help cities that have been facing the brunt of the illegal immigration crisis. During a press conference last month, Adams declared that help from the Biden White House "is not on the way."

When pressed by Fox 5 on whether or not he believes the US-Southern border is secure, Adams said: "I think too many people are coming through various pathways and cavities in our border, and we have to be extremely careful."

"Because not everyone who is coming is pursuing the American Dream," he added.

Going further, Mayor Adams asserted that the border crisis is a "national problem" and that "it's unfair for local municipalities and cities to handle it."

Adams explained that NYC has reduced the number of benefits provided to migrants to the bare necessities after being questioned by Fox 5 as to why officials were providing them with hotel rooms, food, apparel, cellphones, and health insurance.

"We have never witnessed this level of migration in this hemisphere," said Adams. "We are being inundated, and we have now moved to another phase of saying all of those services that you're talking about… we're down to food, shelter, clothing. That's it."

Recent data released by Border Patrol revealed historic numbers of illegal crossings under the Biden administration.

The US-Southern border has seen more than 2 million illegal crossings within the past year, with more than 6 million encounters since Joe Biden became president in 2021. In December, there were more than 300,000 encounters at the southern border, which is the highest number ever recorded in a single month.

Apprehensions of people who are on the terrorist watch list nearly doubled last year's record total. According to the CBP data, 172 non-citizens who were on the terrorist watchlist were apprehended at the border, which was an increase from 2022's record year of 98. Before 2021, the highest number was six in 2018, and it has skyrocketed since the Biden administration took over.

Total encounters for enforcement officials were 434,562 higher than in 2022 at a total of 3,201,144 for FY 2023. Since 2020, the total encounters have continued to increase, with 646,822 total encounters in 2020, 1,956,519 a year later, and 2,766,582 two years later.

Former President Donald Trump, who is the 2024 GOP presidential frontrunner, recently warned about a massive caravan of illegal immigrants headed to the United States. He has vowed to make border security a top priority if he were to take back the White House in 2025.