1. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity is ramping up in New York City, with devastating consequences. In the last couple of weeks, dozens of New York immigrants have been arrested outside Manhattan courthouses daily. In particular, federal immigration agents are employing an entrapment tactic where federal lawyers will drop cases against migrants in immigration court, which strips them of certain due process protections. Without an active case, ICE agents can then arrest those same migrants as they leave the courthouse and place them in expedited removal proceedings, which allows for rapid deportation without a hearing.
The frequent arrests are made more ominous by the fact that the teams of federal agents are almost always wearing plainclothes and mask coverings and that immigrants summoned to the courthouses for required check-ins are being encouraged to bring along their spouses and children. With her 12-year-old daughter trying to intercede, Ambar Mujica Rodriguez, the wife of one detained man, sobbed and shouted, “I can’t. Please don’t go,” at the masked officers as they escorted her husband away, Gothamist reports.
NYC news nonprofit The City obtained a text message sent out to many of those arrested this week, which reads, “Your ICE official has asked that you present yourself in the office to review your case this week. Please arrive at the office Tuesday the 3rd or Wednesday the 4th of June. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact us.”
2. The first official mayoral debate between the candidates for the Democratic primary took place Wednesday night. Amid a thunderstorm of interruptions, crosstalk and urgings from the moderator to keep the answers short, the candidates managed to discuss topics like affordability, housing, funding cuts, education, pizza and how much each candidate spends on their rent or mortgage.
Most of the non-Andrew-Cuomo participants, except former hedge fund manager Whitney Tilson, took the opportunity to go after the former governor’s record and campaign strategy, detouring from their questions to attack everything from Cuomo’s donors to his numerous scandals to his missteps as governor.
3. The federal Department of Education is threatening to strip Columbia University of its accreditation for failing to protect Jewish students following the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks in Israel. The university “acted with deliberate indifference towards the harassment of Jewish students,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon wrote in a letter Wednesday. If Columbia lost accreditation, students would no longer be eligible for federal loans or Pell grants.
4. Mayor Eric Adams is expanding his crackdown on e-bikers. First, the NYPD began issuing criminal summonses — a more extreme penalty than motor vehicles face for the same infractions — rather than fines to cyclists who commit traffic infractions like running red lights, riding on the sidewalks and riding against traffic. Then yesterday, Adams announced that the city will restrict its e-bike fleet to a maximum speed of 15 mph, citing “an emergency threat to life and property.”
And a couple quick-hitters:
- New York waived millions of dollars a month in fines for the developers of the Atlantic Yards housing megaproject for failing to build enough affordable housing by the agreed-upon date.
- A dangerous stretch of Flatbush Avenue near the Barclays Center in Brooklyn would get pedestrian islands and bus-only lanes under a plan announced by the city’s Department of Transportation on Wednesday.
- A federal judge has ordered President Trump to release hundreds of millions in federal funds for New York City housing and transportation projects, which had been withheld due to restrictions targeting “gender ideology,” DEI programs and sanctuary immigration policies.
The Kicker: After months of speculation, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, one of the brightest stars in the Democratic Party, has made her endorsement for mayor of New York City. In an announcement following the debate, Ocasio-Cortez ranked Zohran Mamdani first, Adrienne Adams second, Brad Lander third, Scott Stringer fourth and Zellnor Myrie fifth. “Assemblymember Mamdani has demonstrated a real ability on the ground to put together a coalition of working-class New Yorkers that is strongest to lead the pack,” Ocasio-Cortez said in an interview with the New York Times. “In the final stretch of the race, we need to get very real about that.”
