NEW YORK (AP) — New York City lawmakers are suing to block Mayor Eric Adams from allowing federal immigration agents to operate within the Rikers Island jail complex.
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday by the City Council, accuses Adams of agreeing to the plan to “pay off" the Trump administration in exchange for dropping criminal charges against him.
It argues that the executive order, which allows Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal agencies to maintain office space at the jail, violates the city's prohibition on public officials using their office for personal benefit.
In an emailed statement, mayoral spokesperson Kayla Mamelak Altus said the city would review the council’s lawsuit. She added that it “seems baseless and contrary to the public interest in protecting New Yorkers from violent criminals.”
Adams has repeatedly denied making any deal with the Trump administration over the criminal case.
ICE agents previously had a presence on the Rikers Island facility, which is on a hard-to-reach island in the East River, but they were effectively banned from operating there in 2014 under New York City's sanctuary laws.
In December last year, Adams told Fox News after a meeting with President Donald Trump’s border czar Tom Homan that Homan would like access to Rikers, and his administration was looking into “exceptions” to the sanctuary law.
In February, following another meeting with Homan, Adams announced he would once again allow ICE agents in the jail complex to assist with gang and drug-related investigations.
The meeting came days after the Justice Department had ordered federal prosecutors in Manhattan to dismiss Adams' charges. The following day, the request was made to a federal court, a move that immigrant rights groups and Adams’ critics immediately cast as a quid pro quo.
Adams announced he would deputize his first deputy mayor, Randy Mastro, to handle all decision-making around the return of ICE to Rikers Island, in order to “ensure there was never even the appearance of any conflict.”
As a result, the April 8 executive order authorizing ICE’s return to Rikers Island was signed by Mastro, rather than Adams.
In their lawsuit, the City Council members said that delegation was both unlawful and unprecedented.
“No mayor has ever delegated executive order powers, and no executive order has been signed by anyone but the mayor,” the complaint states.
Adams, a Democrat running for reelection as an independent, has increasingly warmed to Trump since November, riling critics who say he should be doing more to block the administration’s crackdown on immigrants.
Among the many candidates seeking to replace him as mayor in the upcoming election is Adrienne Adams, the current speaker of the City Council.
“The mayor has compromised our city’s sovereignty and is now threatening the safety of all New Yorkers, which is why we are filing this lawsuit to halt his illegal order that he shamelessly previewed on the Fox News couch with Tom Homan,” Adrienne Adams said in a statement Tuesday. “When New Yorkers are afraid of cooperating with our city’s own police and discouraged from reporting crime and seeking help, it makes everyone in our city less safe.”
FILE - The Rikers Island jail complex stands in New York with the Manhattan skyline in the background June 20, 2014. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran wants to negotiate with Washington after his threat to strike the Islamic Republic over its bloody crackdown on protesters, a move coming as activists said Monday the death toll in the nationwide demonstrations rose to at least 544.
Iran had no immediate reaction to the news, which came after the foreign minister of Oman — long an interlocutor between Washington and Tehran — traveled to Iran this weekend. It also remains unclear just what Iran could promise, particularly as Trump has set strict demands over its nuclear program and its ballistic missile arsenal, which Tehran insists is crucial for its national defense.
Meanwhile Monday, Iran called for pro-government demonstrators to head to the streets in support of the theocracy, a show of force after days of protests directly challenging the rule of 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iranian state television aired chants from the crowd, who shouted “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!”
Trump and his national security team have been weighing a range of potential responses against Iran including cyberattacks and direct strikes by the U.S. or Israel, according to two people familiar with internal White House discussions who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
“The military is looking at it, and we’re looking at some very strong options,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday night. Asked about Iran’s threats of retaliation, he said: “If they do that, we will hit them at levels that they’ve never been hit before.”
Trump said that his administration was in talks to set up a meeting with Tehran, but cautioned that he may have to act first as reports of the death toll in Iran mount and the government continues to arrest protesters.
“I think they’re tired of being beat up by the United States,” Trump said. “Iran wants to negotiate.”
He added: “The meeting is being set up, but we may have to act because of what’s happening before the meeting. But a meeting is being set up. Iran called, they want to negotiate.”
Iran through country's parliamentary speaker warned Sunday that the U.S. military and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if America uses force to protect demonstrators.
More than 10,600 people also have been detained over the two weeks of protests, said the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which has been accurate in previous unrest in recent years and gave the death toll. It relies on supporters in Iran crosschecking information. It said 496 of the dead were protesters and 48 were with security forces.
With the internet down in Iran and phone lines cut off, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult. The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the toll. Iran’s government has not offered overall casualty figures.
Those abroad fear the information blackout is emboldening hard-liners within Iran’s security services to launch a bloody crackdown. Protesters flooded the streets in the country’s capital and its second-largest city on Saturday night into Sunday morning. Online videos purported to show more demonstrations Sunday night into Monday, with a Tehran official acknowledging them in state media.
In Tehran, a witness told the AP that the streets of the capital empty at the sunset call to prayers each night. By the Isha, or nighttime prayer, the streets are deserted.
Part of that stems from the fear of getting caught in the crackdown. Police sent the public a text message that warned: “Given the presence of terrorist groups and armed individuals in some gatherings last night and their plans to cause death, and the firm decision to not tolerate any appeasement and to deal decisively with the rioters, families are strongly advised to take care of their youth and teenagers.”
Another text, which claimed to come from the intelligence arm of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, also directly warned people not to take part in demonstrations.
“Dear parents, in view of the enemy’s plan to increase the level of naked violence and the decision to kill people, ... refrain from being on the streets and gathering in places involved in violence, and inform your children about the consequences of cooperating with terrorist mercenaries, which is an example of treason against the country,” the text warned.
The witness spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity due to the ongoing crackdown.
The demonstrations began Dec. 28 over the collapse of the Iranian rial currency, which trades at over 1.4 million to $1, as the country’s economy is squeezed by international sanctions in part levied over its nuclear program. The protests intensified and grew into calls directly challenging Iran’s theocracy.
Nikhinson reported from aboard Air Force One.
In this frame grab from video obtained by the AP outside Iran, a masked demonstrator holds a picture of Iran's Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi during a protest in Tehran, Iran, Friday, January. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP)
In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran shows protesters taking to the streets despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.(UGC via AP)
In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran showed protesters once again taking to the streets of Tehran despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Saturday Jan. 10, 2026. (UGC via AP)
