The Legal Aid Society filed this amicus brief in coalition with legal service providers, member-based community organizations, and the Office of the New York City Public Advocate in support of the New York City Council’s lawsuit to stop the Adams mayoral administration from allowing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to set up an office on Rikers Island, in violation of the City’s sanctuary laws.

Our brief explained to the Court how the history of ICE on Rikers, the current unprecedented federal landscape of immigration enforcement, and the culture of collusion between city agencies and ICE, each and together, demonstrated near certain irreparable harm to New York communities if ICE was allowed back at the jail. In May 2025, the New York Supreme Court granted a temporary restraining order keeping ICE off the island. In June 2025, Legal Aid represented amici in oral argument on the Council’s motion for a preliminary injunction, and the court later granted the preliminary injunction, indefinitely barring Mayor Adams from opening the ICE office on Rikers.