A top city Department of Education official is soliciting donations for a non-profit that helps migrants fight deportation, raising questions about whether she is “bucking the mayor” in his bid to work with President-elect Donald Trump.
Elizabeth Vladeck, the DOE’s general counsel, posted a Dec. 31 request on X urging donations to the non-profit Florence Immigration & Refugee Rights Project.
“Your support is essential in furthering our mission to provide free legal and social services to detained adults and unaccompanied children facing immigration removal proceedings,” Vladeck wrote. “Make a gift to the Florence Project today!”
Coming on the heels of Mayor Adams’ “cordial” meeting with incoming border czar Tom Homan and Hizzoner’s tougher stance on deporting migrants accused of violent crime, Vladeck’s pitch has raised some eyebrows.
“You have a senior member of the administration, the top attorney for the city’s largest agency, who is basically bucking the mayor behind his back,” a source familiar with the DOE told The Post.
After a series of crimes allegedly involving migrants, Adams in February called for a change in the city’s sanctuary policy that sharply limits communication with federal agents, and for more cooperation with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
After migrants injured cops making a shoplifting arrest, Adams last month said he’s open to deporting those accused of violent crimes instead of waiting for convictions to ship them off.
Most recently, he urged the NYPD to work with Homeland Security to file federal charges against the Guatemalan migrant accused of torching a woman to death on the subway.
“I am not going to be ‘warring’ with this president. I’m going to be working with this president,” said Adams.
The Florence Project, which raised $32.6 million in 2022, according to it’s latest available tax filings, has assisted thousands of migrants coming through the Arizona border with Mexico, and informs asylum seekers about their legal rights if apprehended by ICE.
The DOE’s “Project Open Arms” is aimed at supporting migrant children. In light of Trump’s threat of mass deportations, Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos recently reminded principals not to let ICE or FBI agents enter schools, but to immediately contact the legal division for instructions.
Non-local law enforcement agents will be barred without a court-issued warrant or subpoena, the DOE policy says.
David Bloomfield, an education professor at Brooklyn College and the CUNY Grad Center, sees no conflict in Vladeck’s pitch for the Florence Project.
“Her call to support the organization is consistent with DOE policies to uphold immigrant student rights, and to hold immigration authorities to their legal obligations,” he said.
The DOE insists that Vladeck followed social media protocol for city and DOE employees, saying she posted the plea for donations on New Year’s Eve when schools were closed and “on her own time.”
Vladeck did not answer questions. An auto-reply to her DOE email address said, “I am currently working on a part-time basis.”
City Hall had no comment.
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