Majority of NY City Council Signs On to Tiffany Cabán’s Bill Protecting New York’s Sanctuary City Status and Keeping ICE Off Rikers
October 9, 2025
New York City
At today’s Stated Meeting, Council Member Tiffany Cabán introduced Int 1412 to keep ICE and federal agents from targeting immigrants in NYC jails. The bill introduction was accompanied by a video.
The bill was introduced with a majority of the Council already signed on (26 co-sponsors), in addition to support from Comptroller Brad Lander, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, and Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso.
This bill would bar federal immigration authorities from maintaining offices or quarters, for any purpose, on land over which the New York City Department of Correction (DOC) exercises jurisdiction. It would explicitly supersede any conflicting mayoral executive order or memorandum of understanding entered into by New York City. Finally, it makes amendments to several definitions in the Administrative Code to account for current immigration enforcement practices.
“Rikers Island is a human rights disaster. It is unfathomably and unacceptably the largest mental health provider in New York City, and a place where too many of our neighbors have died waiting for care, not justice. New Yorkers already disappear inside those walls. It cannot also become a deportation machine,” said Council Member Tiffany Cabán. “That’s why I’m introducing legislation to keep ICE and federal agents from targeting immigrants, undermining our sanctuary city policies, and setting up offices in NYC jails. New York City must not cooperate with these modern-day masked storm troopers who terrorize our communities. Let’s be clear: ICE beats up seniors. ICE separates children from their parents. ICE shackles pregnant mothers, deports journalists, ignores judges, and defiles our democracy. We cannot allow their viciousness to take root inside our own facilities, with our city’s blessing. Our job as a Council is to protect New Yorkers. So I’m calling on my colleagues: let’s keep ICE off Rikers, out of our jails, and away from our communities. Hands off New York.”
“New York is safer when we don’t have ICE agents in our jails or allow ICE on Rikers Island,” said New York City Comptroller Brad Lander. “As the DOI report spelled out, Mayor Adams’ collaboration with the Trump Administration and the Department of Homeland Security undermines the City’s decades-long sanctuary laws that strengthen public safety and build trust between local government and immigrant communities. I’m proud to support Council Member Cabán’s legislation to protect New Yorkers from ICE and prevent the federal government from using our facilities as dragnets for their cruel and lawless immigration policy regime.”
“In the last decade, New Yorkers have been loud and clear: ICE has no place operating on city property and certainly not on Rikers, where people already experience unconscionable violence and abuse,” said Yasmine Farhang, Executive Director, Immigrant Defense Project. “We are grateful for today’s introduction of Council Member Cabán’s bill which seeks to bring our valuable city laws in line with this moment of federal attacks and ensure our laws will not be undermined at the whim of any mayoral administration that does not have New Yorkers’ interests as their priority.”
Natalia Aristizabal, Deputy Director of Make the Road New York, said, “This bill sends a clear message that our city jails and precincts are not extensions of federal immigration enforcement. By barring ICE and federal agents from operating within local facilities and our city property, we are standing up for immigrant New Yorkers and reaffirming our commitment to being a true sanctuary city. This legislation updates our current laws, protects due process, keeps families together, and ensures that our local resources are not complicit in the cruelty of federal immigration policies. We applaud Councilmember Cabán for ensuring that we safeguard the rights and dignity of all New Yorkers.”
“In a city where diversity is our strongest asset, we must protect its fabric by ensuring that no federal immigration authority can infiltrate our corrections system. This bill represents a vital step towards justice, dignity, and safety for all New Yorkers, affirming that our communities are not just places where people live, but places where they thrive without fear,” said Janay Cauthen, Executive Director, Families for Freedom.
“We applaud Council Member Caban for introducing this critical legislation to close dangerous loopholes in New York City’s sanctuary protections, which the Adams Administration tried to exploit in its recent attempt to reopen an ICE office at Rikers,” said Meghna Philip, Director of the Special Litigation Unit at The Legal Aid Society. “By strengthening and clarifying the City’s ban on immigration enforcement activities within the local jail system, this bill forecloses the sort of collusion that Executive Order 50 so brazenly invited. The Legal Aid Society calls on the City Council to immediately pass this legislation.”
Yonah Zeitz, Advocacy Director at the Katal Center for Equity, Health, and Justice, said “Mayor Adams has tried to serve Donald Trump instead of New Yorkers, and it's shameful. We’re grateful to CM Caban for taking this important step to strengthen the city law to prevent ICE from ever operating at Rikers. Instead of doing President Trump's bidding by further criminalizing immigrants, the Mayor should be focused on protecting all New Yorkers and working to shut down Rikers once and for all.”
“We commend Councilmember Cabán for the introduction of this critical bill to prevent ICE from operating on City property and ripping New York families apart,” added Murad Awawdeh, President and CEO, New York Immigration Coalition. “This legislation restores local control of city property from federal civil immigration enforcement to maintain the primacy of NYC interests over federal attacks and ensures that due process is protected for every New Yorker. New York City must not be a partner in the mass detention and deportation machinery, and the City Council should urgently pass this legislation to safeguard the rights of all New Yorkers at a time when federal attacks on our City and communities are only increasing.”
“The New York City Anti-Violence Project strongly supports Council Member Tiffany Cabán’s legislation to uphold New York City’s sanctuary protections by taking lasting steps to keep ICE out of Rikers,” said Leslie Allen, Director Legal Services of NYC Anti-Violence Project. “This bill is vital to protecting the safety and dignity of LGBTQ immigrants and survivors of violence, and to ensuring our city remains a true sanctuary where all New Yorkers can live free from fear.”
“In the Bronx, we have seen firsthand the harm that DOC and ICE collusion wrought when ICE was allowed on Rikers. The City Council must move quickly to pass this critical legislation," said Rosa Cohen-Cruz, Immigration Policy Director at The Bronx Defenders. "We cannot allow loopholes in the law to deter from the explicit intent of our sanctuary laws, which is to prevent ICE from using city jails for civil immigration enforcement. We thank Council Member Caban for introducing this legislation and call on the Council to pass it swiftly."
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