Mayor Adams is scheduled for a high-stakes meeting with President-elect Trump’s new border czar Tom Homan Thursday amid growing fear among immigrants and advocates over the incoming president and his threats to carry out mass deportations.
The Trump administration’s immigration policies could have far-reaching effects in New York, and advocacy organizations are planning to rally outside City Hall Thursday in protest of the meeting. And Wednesday, the Legal Aid Society, Coalition for the Homeless and 20 other advocacy groups sent a letter to Adams calling on him to protect undocumented immigrants from deportations.
“[It] is imperative that the City take immediate measures to protect both immigrants who have long resided in our community as well as the newest New Yorkers from the draconian and harmful actions being threatened by the incoming presidential administration in the new year,” reads the letter.
Homan is charged with carrying out some of Trump’s major tough-on-immigration campaign promises, including increasing deportations and slowing the flow of new immigrants to the U.S.
Adams, who upset members of his own party with sharp criticism of President Biden’s approach at the southern border, has said he’s open to discussing new approaches with the incoming administration, although he has said he opposes mass deportations.
The mayor said Monday he wants to have a “host of conversations” with the incoming border czar and wants to share strategies on how to secure the border and create a “real decompression strategy.”
“I’m interested to hear his ideas on how we’re going to go about that,” Adams said of the upcoming meeting. “And I’m excited about the conversation.”
A spokesperson for the mayor declined to share details. Homan was initially slated to speak with both the mayor and conservative members of the City Council, but called off the meeting with the council members due to scheduling reasons, a source said.
The meeting comes as the mayor of late has revived a debate over changing New York’s sanctuary city laws, which limit local authorities’ cooperation with federal immigration authorities. The city’s current laws only allow city authorities to turn undocumented immigrants over to ICE if they’ve been convicted of a serious crime.
Adams has said he’s open to changing the laws so that those deported may include those accused, not just convicted, of crimes.
The mayor faced fierce backlash last week after he said that people who entered the country illegally aren’t entitled to the same rights as citizens. “I’m an American,” Adams said, in comments he later walked back in an interview with WNYC. “Americans have certain rights. The Constitution is for Americans, and I’m not a person that snuck into this country.”
The advocates rallying Thursday said they planned to denounce Adams’ decision to meet with Homan and to call on the mayor to uphold existing sanctuary city laws.
Homan, who has been outspoken about taking a tough approach even in cities protected by sanctuary laws, likewise said he was looking forward to meeting with Adams: “I’m looking for partnerships. I’m not looking for enemies.”
Homan took a different tone recently when talking about Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker. At an event earlier this week in the Windy City, Homan declared Chicago would be his first target for mass deportations.
“Chicago’s in trouble because your mayor sucks and your governor sucks,” Homan said at the event.
While local advocates cheered the mayor’s decision to shut down the Floyd Bennett Field shelter in Brooklyn, ahead of Trump’s inauguration, they voiced outrage Wednesday over the news that the Trump administration plans to repeal a law that blocks ICE from making arrests at “sensitive locations” like schools and places of worship.
“Cruelty, not public safety or security, is Trump’s objective,” Murad Awawdeh, President and CEO of the New York Immigration Coalition, said in a statement. “By directing attacks on immigrants to sensitive locations like schools, churches and hospitals, he shows a callous disregard for vulnerable children and the public safety of every New Yorker.”
Awawdeh demanded New York refuse “to participate in ICE’s cruel, politicized immigration agenda” and encouraged Gov. Hochul and state elected officials to pass legislation blocking New York’s state and local government agencies from sharing sensitive information with ICE.
The Adams administration on Tuesday announced its plans to close the Floyd Bennett Field tent shelter, which is located on federal land, and move out all the current occupants by Trump’s inauguration — getting ahead of any potential plans from the Trump administration to cancel the lease or to raid the shelter to deport people.
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