The New York City Council filed a lawsuit against Mayor Eric Adams on Tuesday, arguing his administration’s decision to allow U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to set up operations on Rikers Island is unlawful.
The lawsuit accuses the incumbent of making a “corrupt bargain” with the Trump administration that the council claims led to the recent dismissal of his federal corruption case. Adams denied any wrongdoing in the case.
“The ‘purchase price’ — which was agreed to in advance and is now being proffered — is the safety and well-being of immigrant communities and all New Yorkers whose rights are protected by our city’s prized sanctuary laws,” the lawsuit states. “Through this action, the Council of the City of New York seeks to stop Eric Adams’s flagrant abuse of the power of the mayoralty.”
The legal challenge comes after Adams met with President Donald Trump’s border czar Tom Homan. The two discussed the possibility of letting ICE operate on Rikers Island in February. Adams and Homan have denied the existence of a “quid pro quo” agreement, which critics claim paved the way for the mayor’s indictment to get dropped in exchange for his cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.
The council puts forth the same claim, calling the Adams administration’s recent executive order granting the return of ICE to Rikers Island the “poisoned fruit” of the alleged quid pro quo deal. The executive order was signed by First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro instead of Adams last week.
Adams decided to forgo signing the executive order to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest after the dismissal of his federal case, Politico reported. The council argues the order is “null and void” because Adams never formally gave Mastro the authority to issue such a directive.
“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 lawsuit reads.
Since assuming his position as first deputy mayor last month, Mastro has repeatedly visited Rikers Island as part of his independent assessment.
“The Mayor’s decision to have Mastro issue the executive order on April 8, 2025, does not magically cleanse the taint of conflict from the order,” the suit says.
The council continues saying that Adams denied that he “recused” himself from the matter. The mayor said he was only delegating duties to his second-in-command.
“I did not recuse myself. People play around with terminologies, you know, I delegated. I’m the mayor,” Adams said in an interview last week. The mayor said he told Mastro, “I need for you to look at this with the unbiased eye so no one can say that there’s some bias in the determination. I delegated.”
The council is asking the New York County supreme court to consider issuing a temporary restraining order that would prevent the city from allowing federal immigration authorities on Rikers Island.
The governing body is led by Speaker Adrienne Adams, who is running against the incumbent mayor as a Democrat this year.
In 2014, New York City barred ICE from operating on the prison island after passing sanctuary laws that limited the city’s cooperation with the federal government on immigration matters.