Councilmember Aviles defends New York City sanctuary protections, urges more funding for legal "know your rights" work

Councilmember Alexa Aviles, chair of the New York City Council Committee on Immigration, told Manhattan Community Board 2's Human Services Committee at a March meeting that New York City's suite of sanctuary policies remain essential to public safety and community trust and that the city must increase funding for legal aid and "know your rights" programs.

Aviles said the term "sanctuary city" has no single legal definition but describes local policies that limit municipal cooperation with federal immigration enforcement. "Your status should have no bearing on how you use city services and how you engage," she said, describing a package of laws the city enacted to protect respondents'privacy and limit use of city resources for immigration enforcement. Aviles cited the Tenth Amendment and the U.S. Supreme Court decision Printz v. United States (1997) as legal foundations that limit federal power to compel local enforcement.

Aviles described key elements of the city's approach, including laws that generally prohibit city agencies from honoring immigration detainer requests unless accompanied by a judicial warrant and where specified criteria apply. She said those rules include a threshold that detainers be supported by a judicial warrant and that, in many cases, only certain violent or serious offenses are implicated under the city's detainer provisions. "The law actually includes 177 violent or serious crimes," Aviles said, adding that the city does cooperate with ICE when a judicial warrant exists and due process has run its course.

Aviles warned committee members that federal officials and the mayor's office have discussed steps that could expand ICE's on-the-ground role in the city. "Tom Homan again made a comment that he wants the mayor to do an executive order to put ICE on Rikers Island," she said, referring to proposals that would place federal agents at the city's pretrial jail complex. Aviles noted that Rikers Island primarily holds pretrial detainees, people who have not been sentenced, and she questioned the rationale for ICE presence there without clear legal authority.

The councilmember also criticized rhetoric that frames sanctuary policy as shielding criminals. "This rhetoric...is premised on a lie. It's premised on xenophobia," she said, describing national enforcement as focused in many instances on immigration violations rather than violent crime. Aviles called ICE a "rogue racist agency" in the course of her remarks.

Committee members pressed Aviles on practical protections and next steps. Aviles recommended community education and practical steps: marking private spaces, training door staff and community volunteers, and emphasizing that people generally should not open doors to enforcement agents without a judicial warrant. She described the mayoral budget process and urged rapid advocacy: the City Council had added $2,000,000 to support "know your rights" work, she said, but she called for more funding.

Aviles described the mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs (MOIA) as an advisory agency and noted the Office of Asylum Seeker Operations (OASO), created in 2023, has distinct responsibilities responding to arrivals. She said the Committee on Immigration conducts monthly oversight hearings that can draw in agencies with contract responsibilities, such as the Department of Social Services and Department of Youth and Community Development.

After Aviles'remarks and committee questions, the Human Services Committee agreed to draft a committee resolution that would (1) reaffirm support for the city's sanctuary laws and local legal protections, (2) urge full implementation of those laws by city agencies and the mayor's office, and (3) press for increased city budget resources for legal services, signage and outreach, and "know your rights" workshops. Committee members voted to move forward with drafting the resolution; the meeting record notes the motion passed by voice vote but did not record a roll-call tally.

Aviles and committee members encouraged continued community outreach to bodega owners, schools, houses of worship and tenants, and stressed that legal service providers remain a primary front-line resource. The committee asked staff to draft a resolution with concrete funding requests for review at the board's full meeting.

Aviles made several policy and factual points during the discussion that committee members asked staff and the council office to document for the committee record, including the detainer rules, the city's historical sanctuary policies dating to Mayor Ed Koch, and the role of MOIA and OASO in coordinating immigrant services and language access.