NYC Mayor Eric Adams to let ICE agents on Rikers Island after meeting with Trump's border czar
New York City Mayor Eric Adams and Tom Homan, President Donald Trump's "border czar," met on Thursday, a day after U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced she is suing the state over immigration enforcement.
The mayor, who previously met with Homan in December, said he granted one of Homan's biggest requests and will sign an executive order allowing Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to work on Rikers Island to identify violent criminals.
"They're going to be part of our intelligence, criminal aspects of it, and we're going to be coordinating with them on other public safety aspects of it, so that we can prevent what many people are afraid of, just a wide scale of wide net. We should focus on the individuals that they're looking for," Adams said.
Homan said he was going to New York to get cooperation from Adams or go around him to deport violent criminals. Adams said New York's sanctuary city laws prevent him from helping ICE agents carry out deportations.
"There are some cases where he's going to have to go around the laws in this city. He's going to have to utilize his power. He has the power, as the border czar and ICE, to institute civil enforcement. I can't do that, and we were honest about that," Adams said.
While Adams said he and Homan agreed on some things, they agreed to disagree on others. The mayor said he and Homan are working on additional issues, but the specifics of them will not be announced publicly.
"A number of things that we're ironing out. And before we want to announce some publicly, we want to make sure they pass the legal smell test," the mayor said.
Mayor's relationship with White House scrutinized
The 90-minute closed-door meeting between Adams and Homan may provide a glimpse into how the Democratic mayor plans to work with the White House on immigration issues while running a sanctuary city.
Adams' critics, including those trying to defeat him on the ballot, allege the mayor is cooperating in exchange for the Trump administration dropping the corruption case against him.
"Tom Homan came here today to give the mayor his orders, his marching orders. Donald Trump sent him to collect on the debt," said Scott Stringer, who is running for mayor.
After the DOJ order, Adams said he never broke the law and vowed to earn New Yorkers' trust back. He also insisted he started talking about getting rid of violent criminals more than two years ago, when former President Joe Biden was in office.
- Read more: NYC Mayor Eric Adams addresses DOJ order to drop corruption charges, vows to earn back trust
When CBS News New York asked if he felt obligated to cooperate with the Trump administration, Adams said it's his job to work with the president.
"This about this for a moment. Was I cooperative with the previous administration? I called myself the Biden of Brooklyn. I mean, who are we kidding here? I'm the mayor of the largest city in America. How irresponsible will it be for me not to speak to the president of the United States and his administration? And I was clear, I'm not here to war with the president; I'm here to work with the president."
But House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, of Brooklyn, appeared to be worried about the mayor's relationship with the White House.
"It is the intention of the Trump administration to keep the current mayor on a short leash. How the mayor responds to the White House's intentions is going to determine a lot about the political future of the current mayor of the city of New York," Jeffries said.
New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams also sent a letter to city agency heads offering help if they feel unable to carry out their work because of the mayor's relationship with the Trump administration.
"It's very, very concerning, and it's in black and white," Williams said.
"There are serious concerns about the mayor complying with city law and protecting New York City's families," City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams said. "We are looking to close Rikers Island, not to extend its operation." '
Feds take back $80 million in funding to house migrants in New York
The feds' decision to claw back $80 million in FEMA funding, which was sent to New York City to help house migrants, was expected to come up in Adams' meeting with Homan.
The grants were awarded during the Biden administration but not disbursed until last week, the city said.
Soon after, Elon Musk, who is heading the White House's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), claimed the money was being wasted on luxury hotels. On Tuesday, the Department of Homeland Security announced four people had been fired for making unauthorized payments to those hotels.
New York City Comptroller Brad Lander held an emergency news conference Wednesday after his office found the money was missing from the city's accounts.
"The federal program we're talking about, the shelter and services program, has a $12.50 a night cap on hotel and shelter prices, and obviously New York City paid much more than $12.50 a night for the tents at Floyd Bennett Field and Randall's Island, much less for the hotels here," Lander said.
City Hall said it is conducting an internal investigation, adding, "Our office has already engaged with the White House about recouping these funds and we've requested an emergency meeting with FEMA to try and resolve the matter as quickly as possible."
Over the last two years, the city leased several hotels and other vacant buildings to turn them into migrant shelters. Most of the hotels are occupied by families with children, and none would be considered "luxury" by most travel standards.
Under city law, New York must offer shelter to anyone who needs it. The city is currently in the process of closing more than a dozen migrant shelters by this summer.
DOJ suing New York over immigration enforcement
The DOJ's lawsuit against New York names Gov. Kathy Hochul and Attorney General Letitia James, but not Adams.
On Wednesday, Bondi said the suit was sparked by New York's Green Light Law, which has been in effect since 2019 and allows undocumented immigrants to get drivers licenses.
"New York has chosen to prioritize illegal aliens over American citizens. It stops today," Bondi said.
Hochul responded with a statement Wednesday night, saying the law "has been upheld by the courts time and again."
"Here are the facts: our current laws allow federal immigration officials to access any DMV database with a judicial warrant. That's a common-sense approach that most New Yorkers support. But there's no way I'm letting federal agents, or Elon Musk's shadowy DOGE operation, get unfettered access to the personal data of any New Yorker in the DMV system like 16-year-old kids learning to drive and other vulnerable people," the statement read in part, going on to say, "We expect Pam Bondi's worthless, publicity-driven lawsuit to be a total failure, just like all the others. Let me be clear: New York is not backing down."
"Our state laws, including the Green Light law, protect the rights of all New Yorkers and keep our communities safe. I am prepared to defend our laws, just as I always have," James said in a statement of her own.
Last week, the Justice Department also filed a lawsuit against the state of Illinois and the city of Chicago over their sanctuary city laws.
