Mayoral candidates object to reopening ICE office on Rikers Island

More than 3 million New Yorkers are immigrants, or nearly 40% of city residents, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. That much was clear as three rival mayoral candidates, each of whom is either an immigrant or the child of immigrants, expressed outrage toward New York City Mayor Eric Adams at a forum hosted by progressive and labor groups Thursday night. Adams announced plans to reintroduce U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials on Rikers Island earlier in the day, the latest in a series of steps to more closely align the Democratic mayor with Republican President Donald Trump on the issue.

“It’s not just a Latino community issue. It’s for Africans, it’s for Caribbeans, all of us who are immigrants who have to be aligned in this right now,” said former Assembly Member Michael Blake, whose parents emigrated from Jamaica. He said the mayor’s forthcoming move to reopen the ICE office on Rikers Island was “unacceptable,” and said as mayor he would push back against ICE coming into sensitive areas, including schools and places of worship.

“We are a few subway stops from where I got my citizenship seven or eight years ago,” said Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani, who was born in Uganda. He called the Rikers Island proposal “illegal” and vowed to “make clear to every single New Yorker, because that’s who asylum-seekers and migrants are – they are New Yorkers – we will fight for them.”

State Sen. Jessica Ramos, whose parents emigrated from Colombia, spoke in both Spanish and English during the forum. “We have to get serious in New York City about putting systems in place in order to protect immigrants, transgender people, LGBTQ people, any single group that has been marginalized,” she said. “Our government is being tested right now. So we have to stand up for each other now more than ever.”