Mayor Eric Adams offered mixed messages on Tuesday to New Yorkers wondering how his administration plans to respond to the mass deportations President-elect Donald Trump has promised.
Speaking to reporters at his weekly press briefing, Adams said he was opposed to Trump’s threats of mass deportation — but only after he was pressed repeatedly by reporters for clarification.
“This is a sanctuary city,” Adams said, after lamenting the country’s “broken immigration system” when initially asked how he felt about mass deportations. “Those laws are in place. I want people to continue to go to school. I want people to continue to use our hospital systems. I want people to continue to know that if they’re a victim of a crime, they should report those criminal actions against them. I don’t wanna go to the days where people are going to hide in the shadows.”
But at other times during the briefing, Adams reiterated his position that some of the city’s existing sanctuary city laws, which limit cooperation between local authorities and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, should be changed. He declined to say how, adding he thought he could be of assistance to the incoming Trump administration.
“No one has gone through what this administration has gone through. And I believe we can be very helpful in how we address this issue in a very real way,” Adams, who a year ago said the flow of migrants arriving here would “destroy New York City” said, referring to the arrival of more than 200,000 migrants in the past two years, more than 60,000 still in its shelters.
‘Not the Values of Our City’
The mayor’s remarks Tuesday angered immigrant advocates who said Adams should be clear about his stances towards the city’s estimated 412,000 undocumented immigrants, many of whom live in mixed-status families with some U.S. citizens and have called the city home for years.
“What we need to hear out of the mayor is that he is going to enforce the local laws that are on the books that are under his power and assure that all city agencies are complying with local law,” said New York Immigration Coalition President and CEO Murad Awawdeh. “Meaning that we are a sanctuary city and that we will not be participating in any mass deportation efforts that are happening because that is not who we are. [These are] not the values of our city.”
Adams’s reluctance to criticize Trump has triggered speculation that Adams is currying favor with the incoming president in the face of the mayor’s historic federal indictment.
His remarks came the day after Trump tapped Tom Homan, his former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), to serve as the “border czar” for his incoming administration. Homan then threatened to double the number of ICE agents sent to New York City if local authorities don’t cooperate.
“If we can’t get assistance from New York City we may have to double the number of agents we send to New York City because we’re going to do the job,” Homan said in an appearance on Fox and Friends. “If sanctuary cities don’t want to help us then get the hell out of the way cause we’re coming.”
One wired Democrat, who asked for anonymity fearing blowback, offered a higher minded reason for the mayor’s vagueness on the subject of mass deportations, citing the first Trump administration’s often hostile dealings with New York City and its political leaders including then Mayor Bill de Blasio.
“Coming out gung ho, ‘I’m going to fight this president,’ while that may sound good, the thinking of this administration is that’s not going to help us in any way,” said the Democratic source. “And it’s certainly not going to help the people that we’re trying to protect.”
‘It Needs To Be Fixed’
The city’s current sanctuary protections block most cooperation with I.C.E.’s immigration enforcement, though the federal agency still has free reign to operate within the five boroughs.
The city’s rules allow cooperation in certain circumstances, like if ICE has a judicial warrant, if a person has been convicted of a serious or violent crime, or if they’re on the federal terrorism watchlist.
Advocates have longstanding concerns that the laws were not always followed, and the current statute does not offer any form of recourse if the law is violated. They point to the Corrections Department, which was revealed to have a cozy relationship with ICE, seeming to routinely coordinate with the agency in situations that shouldn’t be exceptions to the law.
Yasmine Farhang, the director of advocacy at the Immigrant Defense Project, said Adams could address that immediately as a matter of city policy.
“Just bring New York City in line with all of these other immigrant-welcoming cities around the country and just direct the agency to cease communication,” Farhang said. “He could do that immediately.”
Adams, though, has communicated with Trump, he says, while declined to communicate with the public about those conversations.Asked by a reporter, “will you express concern about mass deportations in the city?” Adams replied “My concern is one concern. We keep tinkering around the edges. We keep having this philosophical conversation about it. The voters communicated loudly and clearly. We have a broken immigration system. It needs to be fixed. That’s the only conversation I want.”
