Trump’s 'border czar' threatens Mayor Adams on NYC’s immigration enforcement cooperation

President Donald Trump’s border czar Tom Homan sat next to Mayor Eric Adams on “Fox & Friends” Friday morning and openly threatened the mayor to comply with President Donald Trump’s immigration directives.

“If he doesn't come through, I’ll be back in New York City,” said Homan, whom Trump appointed specifically to crack down on illegal immigration. “And we won't be sitting on the couch, I’ll be in his office, up his butt saying, ‘Where the hell is the agreement we came to?’”

The joint appearance came less than 24 hours after Adams announced plans to allow immigration officers to operate at the Rikers Island jail complex despite a 2014 city law restricting the practice. It also followed the abrupt resignation of the U.S. attorney in Manhattan, who accused Adams of engaging in a “quid pro quo” with Trump to execute the president’s immigration policy in exchange for having his federal corruption charges dropped.

Homan and Adams met on Thursday, just hours before news broke that the top federal prosecutor in Manhattan, Danielle Sassoon, alleged the mayor’s attorneys had sought the quid pro quo and that her office had planned to bring more charges against Adams.

Sassoon, a lifelong Republican who clerked for the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, resigned in defiance of the Trump administration’s directive earlier this week for her to ditch the case. Adams and his team have denied all allegations.

During the interview, Adams struck a firm yet defensive tone about his plans to allow U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to detain undocumented immigrants accused of crimes in the city. He said his agreement with Homan includes the reopening of an ICE office on Rikers Island, which was barred by the 2014 law. The mayor’s announcement Thursday drew immediate condemnation from liberal councilmembers and immigration advocates, though Councilmember Bob Holden praised it as a public safety measure.

“ By having ICE on Rikers Island, part of our gang intelligence using our intel with NYPD, correction officers, we can identify those gangs inside and outside on the street,” Adams said.

In 2014, then-Mayor Bill de Blasio did away with ICE’s presence at Rikers as part of his platform to end mass deportation, except in cases of violent criminal offenders. He and other supporters of the reforms argued that the agency’s operations in the city made it harder to fight crime because undocumented New Yorkers were less likely to come forward with information for fear of deportation.

The vast majority of people held on Rikers are awaiting trial and have not been convicted of the crimes for which they’re being detained.

Adams on Friday said he intended to fully cooperate with immigration enforcement officials to take “dangerous people” out of the city. But it’s still unclear how far his planned executive order would contravene New York’s sanctuary city laws, which generally prohibit the use of city resources and personnel to assist in immigration enforcement, except in limited circumstances.

Adams himself said in his Fox News appearance that the laws allowed him to cooperate with ICE around “criminal actions” but not “civil enforcement” of immigration laws.

Homan said the Trump and Adams administrations would “work around” any differences, but as with many other edicts from the White House, the lines of authority are murky and will almost certainly end up in court before taking effect.

The mayor pushed back on Sassoon’s accusation that his lawyers tried to get his federal bribery indictment dropped in exchange for his cooperation with Trump’s immigration policies.

“That’s quid pro quo, that’s a crime. It took her three weeks to report, in front of her, a criminal action? ” he said. “Come on, this is silly.”

Adams also addressed the possibility that Gov. Kathy Hochul could remove him from office over the allegations he is facing. Hochul signaled in an MSNBC appearance late Thursday that she was not ruling this option out and was “consulting with other leaders in government.”

“She has her role, I have my role,” Adams said, adding, “I didn't do anything wrong,” as he has maintained throughout the prosecution.

Homan excoriated Hochul for supporting a state law that allows undocumented immigrants to get drivers’ licenses but prohibits ICE from accessing Department of Motor Vehicles data.

“ I don't know anyone who thinks she's doing a good job. She's an embarrassment,” he said.

Hochul's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Trump administration this week filed a suit over the law, which New York Attorney General Letitia James said she was prepared to defend in court.

Adams also said he planned to run for re-election as a Democrat in the June primary, despite a recent New York Times report that he had discussed returning to the Republican Party. He said most Democrats polled agreed with stricter immigration enforcement.

Gothamist spoke to about a dozen people this week in neighborhoods Adams won by large margins in the 2021 election, and many said they wouldn't vote for him this year based on his handling of issues like the migrant influx, public safety and homelessness.