Mayor Eric Adams takes questions from reporters throughout a Metropolis Corridor information convention. Tuesday, March 11, 2025.
Photograph by Lloyd Mitchell
Mayor Eric Adams is underneath fireplace from his major challengers for remaining largely silent on former President Donald Trump’s newest crackdown on immigrants in New York Metropolis.
They slammed Adams for failing to reply after Trump’s Justice Division subpoenaed city-contracted accommodations offering shelter and providers to newly arrived migrants, in line with revealed stories. ABC7 reported that the DOJ issued subpoenas Wednesday to the Roosevelt Lodge, the Row NYC, and the Chandler Lodge, requesting the names and private info of migrants staying there.
The DOJ additionally sought the names of these answerable for funding and managing the shelters, stories point out.
Adams additionally confronted backlash for his muted response to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s latest detention of Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian activist and lawful everlasting resident. Whereas many native Democratic pols condemned Khalil’s detainment and potential deportation, Adams kept away from doing so, stating as a substitute that immigration enforcement falls solely underneath federal jurisdiction.
State Sen. Zellnor Myrie (D-Brooklyn), certainly one of Adams’ major challengers, charged that the embattled mayor is “nowhere to be found” within the face of Trump “bullying” the town.
“We need a mayor in this city that is willing to stand up for New Yorkers, not someone willing to cave to a wannabe tyrant,” Myrie mentioned. “Anybody that cannot stand up to Donald Trump does not deserve to sit in City Hall. Anybody that is silent in this moment does not deserve to represent our city.”
State Senator and candidate for New York Metropolis Mayor Zellnor Myrie speaks at a mayoral candidates’ discussion board on local weather justice.Photograph by Gabriele Holtermann
The feedback may be taken as a dig at former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who has additionally drawn backlash for no more forcefully standing as much as Trump.
In response to Myrie’s feedback, mayoral spokesperson Liz Garcia reiterated that Adams desires to “work with the president, not war with him, to better the lives of New Yorkers.”
“Others can give uninformed comments and make empty promises that won’t actually help New Yorkers, but they simply cannot match the mayor’s record,” she added.
Garcia pointed to the town Regulation Division final month suing the Trump administration to reclaim $80 million in migrant help that it clawed again from the town’s coffers final month. Adams has maintained that whereas his administration will work with federal immigration authorities on felony issues, it is not going to cooperate on civil immigration enforcement.
Metropolis Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, throughout a Wednesday press convention, known as the Trump administration’s detention of Khalil “a new low” that violates the U.S. Structure. The speaker, who can also be operating for mayor, mentioned she “did not hear an appropriate response” from Mayor Adams on Khalil’s detention.
One other mayoral candidate, Meeting Member Zohran Mamdani, mentioned in a Wednesday assertion that Adams is standing “idly by.”
“He knows as long as he kisses Trump’s ring, he can avoid legal accountability,” Mamdani mentioned. “New Yorkers deserve a leader who will stand up for our Constitutional rights against advancing authoritarianism.”
Mamdani additionally blasted a few statements that Cuomo launched about Khalil’s detainment, neither of which clearly condemned the arrest.
Many Democratic leaders consider that Adams is rolling over for the Trump administration, significantly on immigration enforcement, following its transfer to drop his federal corruption prices. Adams has repeatedly denied that he made any cope with the Trump administration to do its bidding in trade for having his case dismissed.
Metropolis Council Speaker Adrienne Adams is ‘confident’ she will fundraise and collect help rapidly sufficient to be aggressive within the Democratic major for mayor. Wednesday, March 12, 2025.Photograph by Lloyd Mitchell
However because the DOJ moved to scuttle Adams’ case, he has met with Trump’s “border czar,” Tom Homan, and pledged to signal an govt order to let ICE as soon as once more function on Rikers Island. Though Adams has not signed the order but, he is because of meet with Homan once more this week, the border czar instructed reporters in Albany on Wednesday.
Throughout Myrie’s press convention, he mentioned Adams must be marshalling the town’s sources to defend the accommodations that the DOJ subpoenaed — reportedly as a part of a felony probe into the funding and administration of migrant shelter accommodations within the metropolis. He urged the mayor to direct the town’s Regulation Division to help the accommodations within the investigation and to collaborate with the state Lawyer Common’s workplace.
“You can get a subpoena from the Department of Justice for doing the work you were contracted to do, trying to help vulnerable New Yorkers, and the city will leave you alone, abandon you, not step up,” Myrie mentioned. “So, at minimum, this administration should be communicating to these businesses and institutions that they have their back.”
