By Noah Powelson

The City Council on Thursday overrode a mayoral veto of a bill that would explicitly bar Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from operating an office on any land owned by the city’s Department of Correction, including Rikers Island.

A supermajority of the Council voted to pass the bill – which was introduced by Queens City Councilmember Tiffany Cabán – into law after former Mayor Eric Adams vetoed it on his last day in office.

The override was one of 17 passed by the Council during its Jan. 29 meeting.

The new law, dubbed the Safer Sanctuary Act, comes several months after a Manhattan judge found that an executive order issued by Mayor Eric Adams’ first deputy mayor, Randy Mastro, that aimed to allow ICE to open an office on Rikers was illegal.

Cabán’s bill was crafted, in part, to prevent similar orders from being issued in the future. The legislation supersedes any conflicting mayoral executive order or memorandum of understanding the city has entered into with ICE.

The Queens lawmaker on Thursday claimed that the Safer Sanctuary Act was the first major piece of immigration legislation passed by the Council during the second Trump administration, which has ramped up deportations and ICE enforcement. The override vote came several days after ICE agents in Minneapolis shot and killed 37-year-old Alex Pretti and a couple of weeks after they fatally shot Renée Good, also 37.

“We are at a crossroads,” Cabán said. “The brutal assault on Minnesota is just the beginning. The Safer Sanctuary Act was precisely designed to protect New York City from the Trump-Vance administration’s authoritarianism.”

“This law ensures our sanctuary city laws protect New Yorkers regardless of which agency is enacting the horrific Trump-Vance agenda — be it the FBI, the IRS, United States Marshals, or DHS,” she added.

The bill passed with a 44-7 vote. Queens City Councilmembers Joann Ariola, Phil Wong and Jim Gennaro voted against the override. Republican City Councilmember Vickie Paladino voted against the bill when it first came before the Council in December, but accidentally voted for the legislation on Thursday.

“I want to clarify that this was an oversight,” Paladino said in a statement. “When this matter was originally introduced, I voted no and have consistently maintained strong opposition to it.”

The veto override was celebrated on Thursday by a number of public defense and immigration rights groups.

“Today, the New York City Council stood up for our sanctuary laws and strengthened public safety by ensuring that immigration authorities cannot be allowed to operate on Rikers Island for any reason,” Zach Ahmad, senior policy counsel at the New York Civil Liberties Union, said in a statement. “The Safer Sanctuary Act helps to ensure that collusion between local law enforcement and federal immigration officials on Rikers is stopped in its tracks.”

“By overriding Mayor Adams’ veto of this crucial legislation, the City Council has affirmed its commitment to keeping ICE off Rikers Island for good and ensured that our decades-old sanctuary laws cannot be undermined in the future,” Ahmad added.

Murad Awawdeh, the president and CEO of the New York Immigration Coalition, said that his organization commended the Council for “overwhelmingly overriding former Mayor Eric Adams’ shameful veto of the Safer Sanctuary Act and reaffirming New York City’s commitment to its immigrant communities.”