The Adams administration has been collaborating with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to navigate around New York City’s strict sanctuary city laws, which have been hindering ICE’s efforts to remove violent criminals. Ken Genalo, the field director for ICE’s New York office, has been advocating against city policies that prohibit local authorities from working with his team. He has found a more receptive partner in Mayor Eric Adams after facing challenges with the previous administration under Mayor Bill de Blasio.
Genalo expressed that he has been in discussions with Mayor Adams and has seen progress in addressing ICE’s concerns about the city’s sanctuary laws. City Council sources confirmed that talks have taken place to potentially amend laws that impede coordination between local and federal law enforcement.
The director’s comments reflect a shift in attitude among local lawmakers, including Mayor Adams, who are considering changes to the sanctuary laws to facilitate the deportation of criminal migrants. ICE has been seeking the city’s cooperation in honoring detainer requests to facilitate the deportation of criminal suspects. The agency faces challenges when local authorities do not comply with these requests, leading to difficulties in tracking down suspects and impacting public safety.
ICE hopes for improved collaboration with New York City authorities in sharing information and honoring detainers to enhance public safety and streamline deportation processes.
“A lot of the time, we’re getting our leads and our intelligence through you guys from the media,” Genalo said.
Once ICE collars a suspect, the agency must — by law — start deportation proceedings, the director added.
“We cannot hold someone in federal immigration custody for the purpose of them being prosecuted on a state or local level,” he said.
But even though ICE won’t hold illegal immigrants ahead of a local trial, it will reach out to the local district attorney and offer to turn the suspect over — as long as local authorities promise to return them to ICE afterward.
“We offer them that ability,” Genalo said. “But if the case is not a high-profile case, or a violent case, the majority of the time the DA is going to be like, ‘Go ahead, just proceed with your removal proceedings.’
“They’re not going to want to see the case go to completion because there’s going to be probably a lot of cases misdemeanor charges,” he said.
Adams, for his part, seems to be coming around.
In March, he said his administration was parsing through legal options after the City Council torpedoed his bid to change the Big Apple’s sanctuary policies.
“We’re not going back and forth. I stated my position, they stated their position, and so the legal team is now looking at what are the options we have,” Hizzoner said at the time in an interview with Fox 5’s Good Day New York.
But the City Council seems less receptive to budge — with Council Speaker Adrienne Adams saying in late February that Adam’s suggestion was “harmful” and lawmakers didn’t plan to make any modifications.
“We are not considering changes to laws,” she said bluntly. “These laws have been in effect for decades.”
Despite this, Genalo was adamant that he wants local and federal law enforcement to start sharing information again — and he invoked the specter of 911 as an example of what happens when they don’t.
“I was actually there on 911, and deployed at Ground Zero,” Genalo said. “I never want to see that again.
“And when we have law enforcement agencies not cooperating — I just wish there was something that I can get to change people’s minds to ensure that nothing [like that] ever happens again.”
