‘New sheriff in town’: NYC’s first Haitian sheriff sworn in as TPS expires

Mayor Zohran Mamdani declared that “there’s a new sheriff in town” on Monday as Edwin Raymond was sworn in to lead New York City’s Sheriff’s Office.

The well-worn line carried unusual weight at the Brooklyn College ceremony, as Raymond, the son of Haitian immigrants, took office on the same day Temporary Protected Status expired for more than 300,000 Haitians living in the United States. 

He also inherits an agency whose former leader, Anthony Miranda, was fired by Mamdani earlier this year and is now under federal investigation for corruption within the office.

Mamdani and other officials pointed to Raymond being the first Haitian New Yorker to lead the Sheriff’s Office as both a milestone for the city’s Haitian community and the beginning of a new chapter for an agency emerging from a period of apparent turmoil.

“Anyone who thinks that they can push Haitian New Yorkers out of this city, out of this country — ask me where Haitian New Yorkers are going to go,” Mamdani said. “I tell them the only answer is up.”

The expiration followed a Supreme Court ruling last month that cleared the way for the Trump administration to end TPS for Haitians and Syrians. Temporary lower-court orders had kept the protections in place through July 27.

TPS allows eligible immigrants to work in the United States and protects them from deportation when conditions in their home countries make returning unsafe. Haitians without another form of legal immigration status could now face deportation.

Mamdani’s message on Monday to Haitian New Yorkers who are fearful of what lies ahead is that City Hall and other city and state officials stand with them. He joined officials at the ceremony in calling on Congress to provide a permanent solution.

State Attorney General Letitia James, who administered Raymond’s oath of office, warned that the expiration would strip hundreds of thousands of Haitians of their legal protections and authorization to work.

“Their lives will be upended today,” James said.

Five days earlier, James joined 18 other attorneys general in urging Congress to extend TPS for Haitians, restore judicial oversight of decisions ending the protections, and provide TPS holders with a path to legal residency.

Their letter said approximately 56,800 Haitian TPS holders live in New York state and placed the nationwide Haitian TPS population at roughly 350,000. The coalition urged the Senate to approve legislation already passed by the House that would extend the protections until April 20, 2029.

“We are with you,” James told the Haitian community on Monday.

New NYC Sheriff Raymond vows to gain ‘community confidence’

Raymond became emotional later in the ceremony as he discussed his late parents. He wiped away tears as he said he had printed invitations for them and planned to bring the invitations to their graves that evening.

Raymond grew up in East Flatbush and spent 15 years in the NYPD, serving as an officer in Transit District 32 and the 77th Precinct before rising to the rank of sergeant and lieutenant. He later served as a platoon commander in the 81st and 83rd precincts and as commanding officer of community affairs for Patrol Borough Brooklyn North.

He retired from the department in 2023 after becoming a prominent internal critic of the NYPD after joining a 2015 lawsuit alleging that officers were pressured to meet enforcement quotas in predominantly Black and brown neighborhoods.

He later chronicled his experience in “An Inconvenient Cop: My Fight to Change Policing in America.” Raymond also received the NAACP’s Courage Under Fire Award. 

After leaving the NYPD, he joined James’ office as its first law enforcement social justice liaison.

“Mayor Mamdani could not have chosen a better person to lead the New York City Sheriff’s Office,” James said, before jokingly asking the mayor to stop poaching employees from her office.

Public Advocate Jumaane Williams used the ceremony to contrast Raymond’s elevation with the treatment of officers who challenged law enforcement institutions from within. Williams said Raymond should have been elevated within the NYPD for the kind of policing he practiced, rather than pushed out.

“To see you now, where you’re running your own law enforcement, is amazing,” Williams said.

Before speaking, Williams wiped the Sheriff’s Office emblem on the podium, drawing laughter from Mamdani and others in attendance. He did not explicitly explain the gesture, but went on to criticize previous city administrations that he said had failed to deliver promised changes to policing and public safety.

“We had administrations that looked like the communities we came from, that spoke public safety language the way we spoke, and still things did not change the way it was supposed to,” Williams said.

“What a difference an administration makes,” he added, saying the Mamdani administration is “finally getting this right.”

Williams also acknowledged that the Sheriff’s Office had done valuable work in the past, pointing to its enforcement against large gatherings during the COVID-19 pandemic. He said he expected the agency to become “even better” under Raymond.

Finance Commissioner Richard Lee opened Monday’s ceremony by describing the Sheriff’s Office as a centuries-old institution whose authority depends on maintaining the public’s trust.

The office serves as the civil law enforcement division of the Department of Finance. Its deputies enforce court orders and judgments, execute orders of protection, seize illegal firearms, investigate tax fraud and assist people experiencing mental health crises.

Mamdani said Raymond would also oversee the office’s role in investigating deed theft through the administration’s newly created Office of Deed Theft Prevention.

Raymond did not announce major changes for the office on Monday. Instead, he promised to lead the office with transparency and professionalism and to rebuild confidence in the agency.

“Public office is not about status,” Raymond said. “It’s not about power. It’s about stewardship.”

He pledged to strengthen relationships with the communities the office serves and foster a culture of ethical leadership among its employees.

“Community confidence is not given,” Raymond said. “It is earned every day.”