Trump's planned executive orders on immigration prompt legal threats and anxiety in NYC

Chris Sommerfeldt, New York Daily News on Jan 20, 2025

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

NEW YORK — Within hours of returning to the White House on Monday, President Donald Trump planned to use executive power to push through drastic immigration policies that immediately drew rebukes and threats of legal challenges from politicians and advocates in New York, which is expected to be a top target of Trump’s pledged “mass deportation” effort.

According to his transition team, Trump would shortly after his noon inauguration ceremony sign 10 executive orders related to immigration and the southern border, including one that would seek to end birthright citizenship and another that would suspend the ability to claim asylum in the U.S. for at least four months.

“All illegal entry will immediately be halted, and we will begin the process of returning millions and millions of criminal aliens back to the places in which they came,” Trump said in his inaugural address at the U.S. Capitol while speaking of his forthcoming orders.

The full texts of the orders weren’t immediately available, but several of them are legally dubious, including the one that would try to end birthright citizenship, a right enshrined in the U.S. Constitution. The push to eliminate asylum access in the U.S. is also likely to draw legal challenges, as that right is protected by both American and international laws.

Even before Trump began speaking at the U.S. Capitol, legal threats began pouring in from stakeholders in New York City, which is home to more than 500,000 undocumented immigrants.

“We are ready once again to fight Trump’s cruelty in the courts, the legislature, and in the streets,” New York City Liberties Union Executive Director Donna Lieberman said, noting that her group as well as its parent organization, the American Civil Liberties Union, successfully challenged several of the president’s immigration policies during his first term.

New York Immigration Coalition President Murad Awawdeh, whose group helps provide services for many of the tens of thousands of mostly Latin American migrants who have arrived in the city since spring 2022, said the plan to end asylum access is especially troubling for the city’s migrant population. Many of the new arrivals in New York are hoping to claim asylum in the U.S. on the basis of fleeing political turmoil and violence in their home countries.

“This is not about safety and security, it’s about cruelty. We will be less safe with his actions,” said Awawdeh. “Americans dealing with an affordability crisis will have to dig deeper into their pockets, and we will all be worse off because of his shortsighted policies.”

In addition to his executive actions, Trump has vowed to immediately as president launch “mass deportations” of undocumented immigrants, regardless of whether they’ve broken the law in any way besides residing in the U.S. without status.

Major U.S. cities like Chicago and New York, where undocumented immigrants make up large parts of local workforces, are on high alert for what is expected to be an uptick in federal deportation actions.

With the deportation ramp-up looming, some advocates have urged Mayor Eric Adams and other local leaders to beef up local protections for immigrants, including by passing City Council bills that would further limit cooperation between city agencies and federal deportation authorities.

“As one of the largest economies in the world, New York has not only the ability but the responsibility to combat the most harmful proposals expected under the new administration,” said Christine Quinn, a former City Council speaker who now leads WIN, the city’s largest shelter provider for families. “We urge our leaders at the city and state levels to act proactively and expeditiously to protect New Yorkers.”

Adams, however, has shown little interest in enacting new protections for immigrants.

The mayor, who attended Trump’s inauguration ceremony Monday, has said he’s looking to use executive orders himself to roll back some of the city’s existing sanctuary law, which restrict the way in which city resources and agencies, including the NYPD, can be used to help in federal deportation proceedings.

Before Trump’s inauguration, Adams met privately last month with Tom Homan, the president’s incoming “border czar” who’s expected to lead the charge on the deportation efforts. After their meeting, Adams told reporters he and Homan share the same “desire” to go after undocumented immigrants suspected of crimes.

_____