New York’s Mayor, Eric Adams, expressed on Thursday his desire to collaborate more closely with President Donald Trump on immigration policy, even if it meant jeopardizing the financial hub’s “sanctuary city” status.
Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat aligned with the more moderate wing of his party, revealed on X that he had met with Tom Homan, Trump’s “border czar,” to discuss strategies for removing violent gangs from America’s largest city.
In his post, Adams stated that he was strategizing with Homan on implementing an executive order that would allow Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to return to Rikers Island prison to facilitate deportations. Since New York adopted its “sanctuary” status in 2014, which restricts cooperation with federal immigration enforcement, ICE has not maintained offices in the facility to assist with the removal of non-citizens.
Adams explained that under the proposed executive order, federal immigration agents would be specifically assigned to assist with “criminal investigations, in particular those focused on violent criminals and gangs.” He emphasized, “I have been clear that I want to work with the new federal administration, not war with them,” reflecting his pragmatic approach as a former police captain.
Additionally, Adams raised the possibility of embedding more New York police detectives into federal task forces targeting violent gangs and criminal activity. This move aligns with his months-long effort to align his immigration positions with those of the Trump administration. Notably, the administration recently requested Manhattan prosecutors to drop corruption charges against Adams, and the federal prosecutor overseeing the case resigned on Thursday.
However, Adams’s cooperation with ICE has drawn sharp criticism. The Immigrant Defense Project, an advocacy group, labeled his actions “shameless,” accusing the mayor of “targeting immigrants in a quid pro quo with President Trump to get his corruption charges dropped.”
Meanwhile, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi is pursuing legal action against New York state authorities over the city’s role as a “sanctuary city,” further intensifying the debate over immigration enforcement and local-federal cooperation.
