Adams Affirms Sanctuary City, While Saying NYC Can Be ‘Very Helpful’ as Trump Plans Mass Deportations

Adams Affirms Sanctuary City, While Saying NYC Can Be ‘Very Helpful’ as Trump Plans Mass Deportations

By Gwynne Hogan, THE CITY | Photo Courtesy: THE CITY

The mayor repeated his longstanding criticisms of the “sanctuary city” laws limiting cooperation with federal law enforcement, while saying he’d “make sure that we continue the spirit of what our laws are here.”

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.

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“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.

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