Republican mayoral candidate Nicole Malliotakis came to City Hall Wednesday for a press conference criticizing Mayor de Blasio’s “sanctuary city” policy and pledging to increase cooperation with federal government’s efforts at deporting people unlawfully in the United States.
Malliotakis strongly emphasized the limits of her support for assisting federal deportation efforts, however. She began with a detailed statement of support for City policies that provide some protections to persons unlawfully in the U.S., saying that as mayor she would continue Executive Order #124, implemented by Ed Koch and continued by Dinkins, Giuliani, Bloomberg and de Blasio. That executive order prohibits City employees from reporting immigration status to the INS. Among the practical effects of that prohibition: the NYPD does not ask and will not report on the immigration status of a person reporting a crime.
Malliotakis was harshly critical of Mayor de Blasio’s efforts at limiting NYPD and Department of Corrections’ enforcing immigration detainers. The City currently enforces those immigration detainers only in limited circumstances, with those circumstances including a for persons convicted of specified “serious” crimes. Malliotakis proposes expanding that list of specified crimes.
Video:
Here is the full press conference.