New York City Mayor Eric Adams is back in the spotlight, reappearing after a week of silence following undisclosed routine medical testing. In his first press conference since, the Democratic mayor once again showed his opposition to the city's sanctuary status.
Adams made his first appearance Thursday at a police foundation event in lower Manhattan. He then attended an interfaith breakfast at the New York Public Library where he gave a fiery 25-minute speech that took aim at people who questioned his whereabouts, while also defending his stance on immigration.
"Let's make one thing clear. You will not be in this city if you shoot a police officer, rape a girl, commit a crime, commit violence and we are not going to be a safe haven for those who believe they're going to exploit our American dream," Adams said during a passage of his speech.
The NYC mayor has been a vocal critic of the Biden administration's approach to immigration, as well as New York's sanctuary city laws. City officials currently are prohibited from cooperating with federal immigration and law enforcement officials to deport undocumented migrants.
Adams, however, has signaled a desire to change that, traveling down to Mar-a-Lago recently to meet with Trump to discuss immigration and showing interest in working with his team. He also attended Trump's inauguration at the expense of several Martin Luther King Jr. Day events in New York City and met with the president's border czar, Tom Homan.
Adams, who will run for re-election later this year, also sat down for an interview with conservative commentator Tucker Carlson, where he criticized the Biden administration's immigration policy. Adams told Carlson, a former Fox News host and well-known ally Trump, that Biden and his aides told him to tone down his comments and deal with an influx of migrants to help the party in the November elections.
"Basically, be a good Democrat, Eric," Adams said. "That was the basic overall theme."
But despite his criticism of current immigration laws in the city, his team still argues the mayor recognizes the city's need for immigrants. Adams spokesperson Liz Garcia said the mayor "has been clear that New York City will always be a city of immigrants, which is why the Adams administration has worked diligently over the past few months to ensure city staff has the most accurate, up-to-date information on how to uphold our sanctuary city laws."
"We also continue to work with immigrant New Yorkers to ensure they know their rights around federal immigration enforcement," Garcia said. "Our administration is doing the work to provide for immigrant communities across the city."
The mayor's comments on immigration come amid rumors he was set to step down from his post after not being seen in public in a week. City Hall said he was absent to attend to health issues, with Adams disproving the rumors.
"Who started the stupid rumor that I was stepping down on Friday? Are you out of your mind?" he said, pointing his finger at reporters. "How do you print a rumor that I'm resigning on Friday but don't print the fact that we had more jobs in the city's history on that same day?"
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