Mayor Eric Adams hit back Wednesday at City Council members’ push to probe the NYPD over alleged violations of the city’s sanctuary city laws — saying they should instead be focused on “those who commit serious crimes.”
This week, mayoral candidate Speaker Adrienne Adams and Oversight Chair Gale Brewer sent a letter to the city Department of Investigation accusing the NYPD of handing over information to the feds that’s being used in civil immigration proceedings.
“We’ve made it clear over and over again that we will not collaborate with any agencies when it comes to civil enforcement,” Adams shot back on CNN.
“The law does not allow us to do that. But we will collaborate when it comes down to criminal enforcement.”
The Big Apple’s sanctuary city policies generally limit the city’s ability to cooperate with the feds, especially when it comes to civil immigration enforcement.
While the NYPD can work with them on criminal investigations, the letter signers allege information from investigations is being used to deport people who haven’t faced any criminal charges.
In the letter — first reported by The City — the council members suggest Adams is compromised and beholden to the Trump administration to play ball on immigration issues after his historic corruption case was tossed in April.
“This interference to drop criminal charges against the mayor has been attributed to the Trump administration’s desire for his cooperation in civil immigration enforcement,” said the letter, obtained by The Post.
Adams noted, however, that the charges were dismissed with prejudice, meaning they’re “not coming back.”
In response to Adams’ CNN interview, council rep Rendy Desamours doubled down.
“We’ve all seen the mayor be unwilling to stand up to Trump or the overreach of ICE in our own city,” he said.
“These are incidents that the NYPD has admitted it is investigating, but the public still has no answer. The Council wants an independent investigation to restore the trust that the mayor and these recent incidents have undermined.”
The NYPD reiterated Wednesday that it is not involved in civil immigration enforcement.
“As it has for many years, the NYPD works with local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies on criminal investigations, including work on federal criminal task forces. That work is critical to getting dangerous individuals out of our communities, protecting our city from terrorism, and keeping our families safe,” a police spokesperson said.
NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch has repeatedly made the same point.
“We will obviously continue to work with our federal partners on criminal matters, but a person’s immigration status is not something that we track, and we cannot and will not, by law, participate in civil immigration,” she has said.
