Democrat New York City Mayor Eric Adams told President-elect Donald Trump’s border czar Tom Homan that he wants to reopen the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement office on Rikers Island.
According to the New York Post. Adams and Homan discussed the matter on Thursday. The pair discussed reopening the ICE office, as well as the issue of sanctuary cities and mass deportations (via NYP):
The hardline Homan, who was handpicked by President-elect Donald Trump, said he left the hour-long sit-down convinced that the Democrat and former NYPD captain pulled a “complete 180” on his previously progressive immigration views.
“I truly believe sitting down with him, I saw the cop come out of him,” Homan told The Post Friday. “I think he really wants to help with public safety threats and he really wants to help find these children.”
“He would like us to [reopen the ICE office], but he said he’s got to talk to his legal staff about what’s the possibility of him doing that through executive order,” Homan said of Adams. Restoring the Rikers office would allow ICE agents to keep illegal aliens who commit crimes in jail before they are deported.
Predictably, left-wing advocates spoke out against the idea to reopen the ICE office at Rikers.
“Quite frankly, I am disappointed about everything that is coming out of his mouth as of late. He needs to cut it out because we will fight that vigorously and it's going to be a problem,” Deputy Council Speaker Diana Ayala (D-Manhattan/Bronx) told The Post.
“Our mayor is completely out of touch with our own laws, what he can and cannot do,” she added, “and he is making the wrong call.”
Councilman Lincoln Restler (D-Brooklyn) said, “The last thing New York City needs is ICE in schools, shelters and jails advancing their mass deportation schemes.”
“It’s clear Mayor Adams is more interested in securing a pardon from the incoming Trump administration than protecting immigrant New Yorkers and upholding our sanctuary laws,” Restler added.
“Eric Adams is rolling out the red carpet for the Trump administration and its Project 2025 agenda, beginning with Trump’s destructive plan to tear apart families and abandon our immigrant community,” Councilwoman Sandy Nurse (D-Brooklyn) said.
“ICE already has the cooperation of the city as it relates to convicted individuals. This mayor is using the GOP’s fear-mongering tactics to serve his own interests and to escape his own dirty dealings. Perhaps he should just switch parties,” Nurse added.