“New York City Voters Could Repeal ‘Sanctuary City’ Laws in November: A Threat to Public Safety?”

New York City voters may have the chance to repeal the city’s “sanctuary city” laws in the upcoming November elections. Currently, these laws severely limit the cooperation between the NYPD and federal authorities on immigration matters. City Council members Joe Borelli and Robert Holden, along with six other members of the “Common Sense Caucus,” have written a letter to the Charter Revision Commission, urging them to include a referendum question on the ballot to determine whether to roll back these laws.

The letter argues that the current sanctuary laws are not only misguided and dangerous but have also strayed from their original purpose of fostering public safety. Borelli and Holden believe that it should be up to the voters to decide whether to repeal these laws. They have previously attempted to introduce legislation to repeal the sanctuary laws but were unsuccessful due to the left-wing majority in the City Council.

The Council members are now looking to the newly-appointed Charter Revision Commission, which was appointed by Mayor Eric Adams, a retired NYPD cop and moderate Democrat. They hope that the commission, which consists of a diverse group of individuals, will be more receptive to their proposal. Some members of the Common Sense Caucus plan to present their referendum plan in person during a future public hearing hosted by the commission.

The original sanctuary city policies in New York City were established in 1989 under Mayor Ed Koch. These policies aimed to ensure that non-citizens who were victims of crimes could cooperate with authorities without fear of being deported. However, in 2011, then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg updated the rules, limiting cooperation with federal immigration detainer requests unless certain criteria were met.

Between 2014 and 2018, under Mayor Bill de Blasio, additional left-wing policies were enacted that further restricted the NYPD and other city departments’ ability to cooperate with ICE agents. These policies also prohibited city buildings and resources from being used to enforce federal immigration laws. As a result, the NYPD rejected all 109 detainer requests from ICE in the last fiscal year, while the Correction Department only handed over 11 out of 201 requested non-citizens.

Critics argue that these policies have had a detrimental impact on public safety. They point to cases like that of Georgia nursing student Laken Riley, who was murdered on a university campus. The alleged killer, Jose Antonio Ibarra, had been previously arrested in Queens but was released by the NYPD due to the sanctuary city policies.

The current system has raised concerns about public safety, as illustrated by incidents like a mob of migrants assaulting police officers near Times Square. The NYPD’s hands were tied in these situations due to the restrictions imposed by the sanctuary city laws.

The Charter Revision Commission will review the letter from the Council members, but Chairman Carlo Scissura has declined to comment further. Mayor Adams’ spokesperson, Kayla Mamelak, acknowledges that it is the commission’s responsibility to decide which ballot questions will be presented to voters in November, and the mayor will respect their independent decision.