NYC Mayor Adams, Trump border czar Homan announce 'game changer' for ICE enforcement
New York Mayor Eric Adams and Trump administration border czar Tom Homan sat side by side in an exclusive Fox News interview Friday, discussing how their border collaboration will be a "game changer" for national security.
The two discussed their plan to reopen the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office on Rikers Island so that suspected "dangerous" illegal immigrants can be deported.
"Getting back in Rikers Island is a game changer. Not only do we get the bad guys really hitting the streets, the intelligence of how [Tren de Aragua] operates, where they're operating, all this intelligence they gather at Rikers Island, we have access to," Homan said alongside Adams on "Fox & Friends."
"The far left has hijacked this narrative [that] ICE is running in our schools, ICE is running in our churches, and they are creating this frenzy. They're not in the business of just grabbing children. We need to just stop all this noise," Mayor Adams chimed in.
"Rikers Island, particularly after all the reforms, Rikers Island is now having some of the most dangerous people in our city. And by having ICE on Rikers Island, part of our gang intelligence, using our intel with NYPD correction officers, we could identify those gangs inside and outside on the street."
Adams also shut down any "quid pro quo" accusations about his border security cooperation, and took a firm stand against those protesting the U.S. Department of Justice’s decision to drop charges in a bribery case.
"Think about my attorney, Alex Spiro, one of the top trial attorneys in the country, imagine him going inside saying that the only way Mayor Adams is going to assist in immigration – which I was calling for since 2022 – is if you drop the charges," the mayor said Friday.
"That's quid pro quo. That's a crime," he continued. "Come on, this is silly."
Adams reacted to several senior DOJ officials who resigned instead of complying with an order to drop the bribery charges against him.
The resignations came amid President Donald Trump's effort to overhaul the agency, which he said has been weaponized against political opponents, and included Acting Manhattan U.S. Attorney Danielle Sassoon, Trump's pick to temporarily lead the office prosecuting Adams.
Sassoon wrote a letter to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi about her decision, saying: "I remain baffled by the rushed and superficial process by which this decision was reached… Rather than be rewarded, Adams’s advocacy should be called out for what it is: an improper offer of immigration enforcement assistance in exchange for a dismissal of his case."
The Democrat mayor previously claimed he was targeted by the Biden administration, and since has been willing to work with the Trump administration crackdown to curb illegal immigration.
Adams pleaded not guilty to charges that he accepted bribes from Turkish officials.
"They articulated exactly, ‘weaponization.’ When you [look] at leg room turning into bribery, because I asked for a governmental entity to do a building inspection, we need to be clear on the root of all of this."
Three other deputies in the Justice Department's public corruption unit – Rob Heberle, Jenn Clarke, and Marco Palmieri – also resigned on Thursday over the Adams case, a person familiar with the matter told Fox News.
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New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said Thursday evening that she was considering removing Mayor Adams from office amid allegations of a quid pro quo, in which Adams backed Trump's immigration policies, in exchange for dropping the charges, the New York Post reported.
She’s the only state official who has the power to remove Mayor Adams from his post.
Fox News’ Louis Casiano contributed to this report.