Good on Mayor Adams for pledging cooperation with ICE to apprehend dangerous criminal migrants, but he should end the double-talk and commit to full cooperation on civil warrants.
And Gov. Kathy Hochul needs to get real, too.
Friday morning, Adams said he wants to loosen sanctuary laws to let the NYPD work with ICE even on civil enforcement — only to walk it back after progs screamed, “explaining” he meant only when it comes to dangerous criminals.
For all the left’s denials, the clash of various federal, state and city laws leaves huge gray areas around when locals must and can work with the feds; New Yorkers are best served by giving ICE all possible leeway when apprehending the most dangerous and criminal illegal immigrants.
Reopening Rikers Island to the feds is a critical first step in ensuring fast removal of migrant killers, rapists, gangbangers and other bad guys.
Hochul, meanwhile should focus instead on assisting border czar Tom Homan.
It’s a federal crime to intentionally conceal, harbor or shield from detection a person who is in the United States unlawfully — and New York’s Green Light law does just that, barring the Department of Motor Vehicles from releasing driver info to the feds without a court order, subpoena or warrant from a judge.
State law only guaranteed illegal immigrants’ right to apply for a New York driver’s license starting in December 2019; more than 50,000 got them the very first month.
That suggests a level of sophistication associated with organized crime; certainly, a license is a huge boon to hardened criminals — the very kind that Homan’s agents are trying to track down, at real risk to their own lives and limbs.
Hochul should think back to 2007, when then-Gov. Eliot Spitzer sought to issue driver’s licenses to “undocumented immigrants” people — and Erie County Clerk Kathy Hochul vowed to arrest any illegal migrant who came to her office to get a license.
Spitzer’s drive failed; only years later did the left’s rise lead the state to start trying to “normalize” illegal immigration — with centrists like Hochul rushing to catch up.
But the excesses of the last four years have pushed public opinion firmly against tolerating mass illegal immigration.
Hochul, like Adams, needs to recognize that no sanctuary law can be allowed to shield violent criminals: Public safety must come first.
