NYPD Officers 'Want To Cooperate With ICE,' Union President Says

NEW YORK, NY — Local immigrant advocates have been insisting for months that the streets and homes of the city may not be as safe for NYC's half-million undocumented immigrants under President Donald Trump as liberal city officials would have us believe.

Now, in an interview on AM radio, the head of the NYPD sergeants' union has issued a somewhat validating, if terrifying, confirmation of their fears.

"Make no mistake about it. The members of law enforcement in the NYPD want to cooperate with ICE," Ed Mullins, president of the Sergeants Benevolent Association, told conservative talk show host John Catsimatidis over the weekend.

"I speak to cops every day," Mullins said. "They want to cooperate with ICE. They want to work with fellow law enforcement agents."

NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio and NYPD Commissioner James O'Neill have repeatedly insisted that no matter how hard Trump and his Department of Homeland Security try to convince the city to play along with a nationwide deportation push, local cops will refuse to report or hand over undocumented immigrants to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

In fact, just last week, O'Neill sent the following memo to the whole department:

To the men and women of the New York City Police Department:

As a result of your hard work and dedication, New York continues to be the safest big city in the nation. One key to our success is that we strive to have everyone trust their local government when they need help, report crimes, or require key public services. It is critical that everyone who comes into contact with the NYPD, regardless of their immigration status, be able to identify themselves or seek assistance without hesitation, anxiety or fear. It is part of our larger mission to forge public trust with all the communities we serve.

With this backdrop, I believe it is important for me to reiterate our immigration-related policies to you. The NYPD is committed to maintaining a welcoming environment for immigrant communities while also maintaining public safety for all:

The NYPD accepts the city’s IDNYC as a valid and recognized form of government-issued identification, including for the issuance of summonses and desk appearance tickets.

The NYPD does not inquire about the immigration status of crime victims, witnesses, or others who call or approach the police seeking assistance.

The NYPD does not conduct civil immigration enforcement. Specifically, this department does not enforce administrative warrants issued by Immigration and Custom Enforcement agents or federal immigration judges solely in connection with civil immigration violations. For example, the NYPD does not arrest or detain individuals for immigration violations such as overstaying a lawfully-issued visa. However, the NYPD does and will continue to honor federal immigration detainers when there is a risk to public safety. Pursuant to New York City law, the NYPD detains for federal authorities individuals in our custody who have been convicted of a violent or serious felony, or are on the terrorist watch list and a judicial warrant has been issued.

The Criminal Justice Bureau is responsible for borough-wide arrest processing, overseeing Central Booking, and ensuring the timely arraignment of arrestees. This command has been tasked with reviewing federal immigration detainer requests in consultation with the Legal Bureau. Members of the service who have questions regarding immigration detainers should consult the Criminal Justice Bureau by contacting the local borough Court Section concerned, or the Legal Bureau at 646-610-5400.

It is our city’s resolve to remain a safe and welcoming place for all immigrants. And it is incumbent upon the men and women of the NYPD to maintain the trust and confidence of all who depend on the services of our police department for their safety.

Thank you for everything you do every day and, as always, be safe.

James P. O’Neill

Police Commissioner

But as we've seen in recent weeks, the city can't prevent ICE from barging into people's homes and hauling them down to a detention center. Twenty-one undocumented immigrants from across NYC, most of whom had criminal records (some of them for more minor crimes than others), were just rounded up in an ICE sweep a couple weekends ago.

"The misnomer of a sanctuary city is that there's an area off-limits to federal enforcement — but that's wrong," Anna Law, political science professor and Herb Kurt chair of constitutional rights at Brooklyn College, previously explained to Patch. "The federal immigration authorities can conduct raids throughout our city. That can still happen."

The main thing NYPD officers can do in defiance of Trump, then, is refuse to share info with the feds about undocumented immigrants they encounter in the field.

On the flip side, though, if local cops were more inclined toward Trump's school of thought than de Blasio's, they could take advantage of another key power. They could target low-level criminals like street vendors, turnstile hoppers, loiterers, etc. — also known as "broken windows" policing.

With small crimes like these on their records, undocumented immigrants are more vulnerable to deportation under Trump.

In a letter to New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman about the potential loophole earlier this month, Sunset Park immigrant advocate group El Grito wrote:

The reality is that for communities of color across the city, there has never been a sanctuary from police brutality or the daily punishment that is inflicted on people of color through arrests and summonses. The most egregious example of this may be Broken Windows policing, which promotes aggressive enforcement against so-called quality of life infractions. This strategy, which includes enforcement against a variety of everyday behaviors, is unproven as a crime-fighting strategy and also, like with fare-beating arrests, overwhelmingly targets Blacks and Latinos.

Broken Windows, which has led police to arrest and even target street and subway vendors, many of whom are immigrants, also puts undocumented people at risk of deportation. Every arrest produces fingerprints that are sent to federal law enforcement officials, who are now answering to a man dedicated to deporting at least a few million people, according to his public statements.

Catsimatidis, the radio show host who spoke to police union head Mullins over the weekend, challenged him on the idea that the NYPD has the power to defy the de Blasio administration.

"I know Commissioner O'Neill. He's a very decent guy," Catsimatidis said. "If the mayor orders him not to do it, he's obligated to the mayor, versus if federal law enforcement people ordered him to do something."

This was Mullins' response:

"I would have to disagree with that. I understand the idea that you answer to your boss. But there's a point where there's a moral obligation as the chief law enforcement officer of the city, you yourself have to be able to follow the direction of law. ... You're chosen to uphold a law, and that means whether it's your local municipalities that have laws, or your states or your federal government, you are supposed to participate and follow the law of the land. We're a nation of laws. It makes no sense."

And at least in the technical sense, he has a point.

In a previous interview with Patch, Anna Law from Brooklyn College said that as she understands it, NYPD officers aren't legally bound to the whims of the mayor (or any other local leader).

So while doing what they could to throw a bone to ICE "would be in violation of what the mayor ordered," she said, "it wouldn't be illegal."

Instead, she said, "It's a matter of, 'Do we cooperate or not?'"

A hat tip to Gothamist. Lead image courtesy of ICE