Immigration is a primary focus for the Trump administration and New York City has found itself in the crosshairs of enforcement in the wake of the migrant crisis and its current sanctuary city status.

Cooperation with the White House’s federal immigration policies has put both Mayor Eric Adams and Gov. Kathy Hochul in the hot seat — and lately the mayor has been witnessed backtracking on his prior stance.


What You Need To Know

  • Mayor Adams has been accused of cooperating with the Trump administration and has been hesitant to criticize their policies

  • Gov. Hochul says she already cooperates with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials — so long as the investigation solely targets convicted criminals

  • Adams’ police commissioner previously issued guidance saying the NYPD will not assist in ICE raids

Speaking to NY1 exclusively during his Washington D.C. trip on Friday, Adams claims he’s in lockstep with his fellow Democrat in the governor’s mansion when it comes to views on federal immigration enforcement.

“We’re on the same page with that,” Adams said. “She has made it clear, if you commit a dangerous crime in our city after you serve your time, you should be deported. We’re in the same line with that.”

Hochul says she already cooperates with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials — so long as the investigation solely targets convicted criminals.

“State police will work with you if you have a warrant, someone has committed crimes here, crimes in their own country, they’re on a terrorist watch list — we will cooperate with you in those circumstances. Easily, we did that under Joe Biden,” she said on April 14 during an interview with NY1.

Adams defended his stance on Friday.

“The distortion in what we’re saying is what needs to be addressed. What I’ve said preelection, I’m saying post-election: no one should be a victim of a crime, it doesn’t matter if a person is documented or undocumented,” he said.

But Adams has been accused of cooperating with the Trump administration and has been hesitant to criticize the administration’s policies.

The mayor promised federal border czar Tom Homan he would green light an ICE office on Rikers Island — where those accused, not convicted, of crimes await their day in court.

“We must do everything to make our city safe and to collaborate,” he said on Thursday. “We’re not allowed to collaborate with ICE for civil enforcement, but we will collaborate with them for criminal occasions.”

Adams handed the coordination task to First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro.

But now, the New York City Council is suing Adams, writing in a 29-page lawsuit the mayor violated the Big Apple’s sanctuary city status. Adding that his actions “made real the concerns of a quid pro quo deal by which the mayor agreed to assist President Trump’s immigration enforcement agenda” in exchange for dropping his federal criminal corruption charges.

Meanwhile, New York is not a sanctuary state and standing executive orders define when and how the state assists immigration officials, especially in the wake of green card holders being detained.

Hochul pushed back on the administration earlier this week.

“This is America, for God’s sakes. Why should we have to worry about kids getting scooped off a campus or out of their beds in Sackets Harbor? I’m the governor, I will fight for my state, but this has gone too far,” she told NY1 on April 14.

“You just separated a family and when they do that, I called and said, ‘They’ve got to come back.’ I talked to Homan a couple of times. They did come back,” she added, describing how she personally petitioned the Trump administration for the return of a family to the upstate village, Sackets Harbor.

Adams’ police commissioner previously issued guidance saying the NYPD will not assist in ICE raids.