Mayor Eric Adams is in Washington D.C. preparing to testify before the House Oversight Committee Wednesday morning as one of four “sanctuary city mayors” in what’s expected to be a brutal grilling from Republicans advocating aggressive immigration enforcement.
But Adams stands apart from fellow Democratic mayors Michelle Wu of Boston, Brandon Johnson of Chicago and Mike Johnston of Denver — and not just because Adams has openly questioned New York City’s laws barring most city government cooperation with federal immigration authorities.
Adams has recently become a high-profile partner of the Trump administration as it ramps up efforts to arrest, detain and deport immigrants — his part of a bargain in which the Trump Department of Justice is seeking to drop Adams’ federal corruption charges in an extraordinary pact.
Live on camera, he will have to walk a tightrope, navigating between members of Congress looking to draw blood — among them Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Lauren Boebert of Colorado — and New York City voters, many of them immigrants or children of immigrants.
The chair of the committee that called the hearing left no doubt about its objectives.
“The pro-illegal alien mayors of Boston, Chicago, Denver and New York City have implemented reckless, illegal policies that shield criminal aliens from federal immigration enforcement and endanger public safety,” said Kentucky Rep. James Comer in a statement ahead of the hearing. “State and local governments that refuse to comply with federal immigration enforcement efforts should not receive a penny of federal funding.”
The Trump administration already clawed back $80 million in federal funds from city coffers that had gone to reimburse New York City for its handling of the arrival of migrants, prompting city attorneys to sue.
Liz Garcia, a spokesperson for Adams, said the mayor has been prepping for testimony daily with members of his legal, intergovernmental and communications teams, while Deputy Mayor for Intergovernmental Affairs Tiffany Raspberry has been talking with staffers working with the other mayors slated to testify.
Asked Tuesday what he planned to communicate to the American public, Adams said he wants to highlight the important role immigrants play in New York City, citing his experience during the pandemic.
“When I went to the hospitals I saw first and second generation immigrants, nurses managing the crisis. Who was stocking our shelves? Who was delivering your Uber Eats? I really want to really show why it’s important, this concept of sanctuary city,” he said.
Adams seemed to acknowledge his days left in City Hall could be numbered.
“My picture will be in City Hall,” Adams said. “That’s been the greatest thrill of my life to get here. And that was the meat and potato. Term two is the gravy. I have a full stomach with the meat and potatoes.”
No Action Yet
Immigration advocates remain unconvinced by Adams’ words of support for New York City’s immigrants.
Following the Department of Justice’s request to drop the charges in exchange for Adams’ cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Adams met with Trump’s Border Czar Thomas Homan and did joint media appearances promising a partnership, starting with reopening an ICE center on Rikers Island to intercept people leaving jail.
Pro-immigrant groups plan to rally on the steps of City Hall Wednesday morning ahead of the hearing, aiming to pressure Adams to stand up for the city’s sanctuary protections, which have been on the books in various forms since the late 1980s.
“It’s imperative that Mayor Adams that he puts immigrant New Yorkers first and the well-being of our city ahead of his own desire for a get out of jail free card,” said Zach Ahmad, senior policy counsel at the New York Civil Liberties Union.
Adams has repeatedly said the city’s sanctuary laws of 2014 and 2017 went too far and should be walked back — taking particular issue with prohibitions on Department of Correction and NYPD cooperation with ICE except for instances in which someone has already been convicted of one of 170 listed violent felonies.
Last February, Adams and his then chief counsel, Lisa Zornberg, floated revising sanctuary laws so that local authorities could cooperate when someone was suspected of criminal activity — rolling back to 1980s policy. After meeting with Homan, Adams floated loosening sanctuary provisions so local authorities could participate in civil immigration enforcement, though he quickly walked that back.
An executive order Adams promised to get ICE back on Rikers has yet to hit the books. Asked about the hold up, Adams declined to say.
“If you ever dealt with attorneys, you know that they take their time,” he said. “They’re not going to allow you to rush them.”
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