New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ months-long overtures to cater to President Donald Trump administration’s hardline immigration policies have paid off. On Monday, the Department of Justice sent a letter to the U.S. Attorney in Manhattan, requesting the dismissal of five corruption-related charges against Adams. The memo indicated that dismissing the case would enable Adams to “devote full attention and resources to illegal immigration” in support of the Trump administration’s enforcement efforts.
But legal experts and immigrant advocates Documented spoke to expressed skepticism over the mayor’s attempt to increase immigration enforcement in NYC, explaining that any efforts would face significant legal barriers. While Adams has signaled his willingness to cooperate with federal immigration authorities, they say his ability to significantly alter the city’s sanctuary policies is limited. The City Council is poised to fight any executive overreach, and immigrant rights groups are prepared to challenge violations of sanctuary policies in court.
Current sanctuary city laws prohibit proactive collaboration with federal immigration authorities. The law prohibits city employees from inviting ICE onto city-managed property and federal agents must show up with a judicial warrant or invoke limited exceptions. Recently, Trump expanded ICE’s authorities, allowing them to arrest migrants at schools and churches that were used to be more sensitive to federal immigration law enforcement.
Amy Belsher, director of immigrants’ rights litigation at the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU), emphasized that any attempts by Adams to loosen sanctuary laws would face legal barriers from the city, state and federal level. Changing the sanctuary law requires City Council approval, which appears unlikely given its progressive stance.
Additionally, state law and case law prohibit local law enforcement agencies like the NYPD from detaining people for immigration enforcement purposes. The mayor cannot direct the city’s agencies to assist with federal immigration enforcement in ways that violate these laws, according to Belsher.
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Belsher added that the Constitution gives the federal government full control over immigration, and courts have repeatedly struck down state and local efforts to participate in immigration enforcement, finding them preempted by federal law.
Belsher also reassured the immigrant community that existing protections remain intact: “Sanctuary laws are still in effect, and we urge community members to rely on these protections.”
Adams maintained his innocence during a public address on Tuesday, replacing his usual press conference with a speech in which he refuted allegations against him.
“As I said from the outset, I never broke the law, and I never would. I would never put any personal benefit above my solemn responsibility as your mayor,” Adams said.
Although the DOJ’s letter suggested that the case had hindered Adams’ ability to fully focus on and support “critical, ongoing federal efforts ‘to protect the American people from the disastrous effects of unlawful mass migration and resettlement,” the mayor made only a brief mention of the issue in his Tuesday address. Instead, he focused on his administration’s accomplishments, highlighting that: “we moved more than 185,000 migrants through our system and out of our care.”
Murad Awawdeh, president and CEO of the New York Immigration Coalition, condemned Adams’ shifts in immigration policies. “The mayor is a hop, skip, and a jump away from leaping into Donald Trump’s arms,” he said, suggesting that Adams was trading cooperation on immigration enforcement for leniency in his legal troubles. “What I do know is that the mayor himself must uphold New York City’s local law, and if he does not and he violates it in any way, he will be sued immediately, forcefully and quickly to ensure that we continue to defend and protect our communities.”
“It’s hard to predict what could happen next. But certainly, at a minimum, the mayor can contribute to the atmosphere of fear and panic and instability in immigrant communities right now that you know will make it, in general, harder for immigrants to feel safe and to feel welcome in New York,” said Camille J. Mackler, executive director of Immigrant Advocates Response Collaborative (I-ARC).
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Kayla Mamelak Altus, a spokesperson for the mayor’s office, reiterated Adams’ position Monday on working with the federal government but did not specify too much on new policy direction.
“The mayor has also been clear that he wants to work with the new federal administration, not war with them, to better the lives of New Yorkers. That work includes going after the violent offenders who are wreaking havoc on our streets and ensuring they leave our city after being convicted of a crime and serving a jail sentence. He has been vocal about his position on this for months, and it remains the same,” said Altus in a statement shared with Documented.
For Adams, there is no easy way to navigate a precarious balance between appeasing federal authorities and maintaining the city’s long-standing immigrant protections.
A spokesperson for the NYPD clarified Tuesday that officers are prohibited from participating in civil immigration enforcement.
“Pursuant to New York City and New York State law, members of service are not permitted to engage in civil immigration enforcement, assist in any manner with civil immigration enforcement, or allow any department resources to be used in connection with civil immigration enforcement,” the spokesperson said in a statement shared with Documented. “At the same time, members of service will not take any action that will interfere with or impede civil immigration enforcement undertaken by federal authorities.”
A spokesperson for the NYC Department of Education also cited Schools Chancellor Melissa Avilés-Ramos’ statement published on X this Sunday, reaffirming that policies regarding immigration enforcement in schools remain unchanged.
“We unequivocally stand with all children in our city regardless of immigration status. We want to be very clear — our policies have not changed,” the chancellor said in the post, urging families to continue sending their children to school. “As always, non-local law enforcement is NOT permitted in any of our school buildings without a judicial warrant or unless there are exigent circumstances.”
Eric Adams’ stance on migrants and sanctuary city laws has shifted over the past two years, taking a sharper turn after Trump’s election.
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He welcomed migrants and was proud of the “Right to Shelter state” when the first bus of migrants from Texas arrived in NYC in August 2022. About a year later, when the influx of migrants reached over 110,000 in NYC, the mayor said the migration crisis would “destroy New York City” and criticized then-President Biden and Governor Hochul for failing to assist the city in addressing the migration issue with adequate funding.
After Trump took office, Adams met his border czar Tom Homan and expressed himself more explicitly with statements that aligned with Trump. He said in a press conference last December that undocumented immigrants who had committed crimes should be deported and are not entitled to the right to due process under the U.S. Constitution.
Last month, Adams flew to Florida to meet Trump at his golf club and, three days later, drove to Washington, D.C. to attend the presidential inauguration.
Critics argue that Adams is leveraging immigration enforcement and Trump-aligned policies as political bargaining chips to seek a pardon following his indictment over questionable campaign donations and corruption. However, Adams has insisted there is no discussion of his own case during his conversations with Trump.
Adams claims that the investigation on his campaign was political retribution after he criticized the former administration’s immigration policy, which was echoed by Trump and the claims in the DOJ’s letter. He refrained from speaking against Trump’s immigration policies, and Trump said in December that he would consider pardoning Adams.
Most recently, Adams faced strong backlash after the leak of his memo advising workers in schools, shelters and hospitals that they could let federal immigration agents access to the buildings if they “reasonably feel threatened.” City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams and her colleagues called the advisory “highly irresponsible, confusing, and dangerous.”
Following public outcry, the city hall adjusted the guidance by issuing an updated workflow chart to municipal workers on Monday, removing the controversial language. On the same day, Adams also told his top commissioners “Don’t Criticize Trump, Don’t Interfere with Immigration Enforcement” to avoid jeopardizing federal funding, first reported by THE CITY.
Adams’ legal fate remains uncertain. The Justice Department’s recent letter indicated that the charges against Adams could be revisited after the November elections.
“The Trump administration has left the door open to bring the charges back,” said Awawdeh. “They’re telling the mayor, we’re not making a determination on the merits of the case, but we are going to drop the charges for now so that you can help us with immigration enforcement and we will re-review the case in November. So they’re literally saying we’re holding you hostage, and you better do what we tell you to do.”
