New York, 2016. Donald Trump is visiting Trump Tower shortly after scoring a shocking victory in a presidential campaign in which he belittled immigrants and threatened to deport millions of them. Mayor, Bill de Blasio, went to the president-elect to deliver a stern message. “This city… will do everything it can to protect its residents and ensure that families are not separated,” he said later.
Eight years later, Trump visited New York shortly after winning a shock reelection victory during a campaign in which he belittled immigrants and threatened to deport millions of them. This time the mayor, Eric Adams, went to Madison Square Garden to welcome Trump at an Ultimate Fighting event. “I didn’t hear exactly what he said. But it was something along the lines of ‘You are one of the greatest mayors the city has ever had,’” Adams said with a laugh when asked about the conversation a few days later at a City Hall press conference main. “The only thing we care about is, you know, seeing a good game.”
There are many questions about Adams’ approach to Trump. But what matters most to thousands of undocumented New Yorkers is whether Adams will fight well if Trump and his border czar, Tom Homan, trying to get people out of the city next year — and whether the mayor’s personal legal problems will affect his official response. Currently, dozens of city agencies and departments related to the lives of immigrants are making encouraging logistical preparations. First Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer and her staff have been leading meetings, at least weekly, to strategize possible responses to everything from the Trump administration’s identification requirements to other raid by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). “The bureaucracy and the administrators are trying to follow the mandates and also understand what’s happening to us and try to do the right thing,” said Alexa Avilés, who chairs the city council’s immigration committee. One manifestation is that plans are being drafted to close a shelter in Brooklyn for 2,000 asylum seekers. Because the shelter is on federal land, Trump’s deportation offensive can target it more easily than migrants integrating into the general shelter community.
Another important front is spreading the word about New York’s sanctuary city law, which was strengthened when Trump first arrived at the White House. “There’s a lot of confusion about what those laws and policies do and don’t do,” said Murad Awawdeh, president of the New York Immigration Coalition. “The school community needs to know that ICE has no right to enter schools. They have no right to demand anything without an order.” While circulating such information would be a helpful step, Awawdeh and others are deeply concerned about whether the mayor will firmly enforce sanctuary city laws under Trump’s pressure . “Eric Adams is a man of contradictions,” Avilés said. “He blames the migrants and then says, ‘We love the migrants.’ He should talk about the strength of this city, how we will protect our people no matter what, and prepare his agencies to do those things instead of appeasing Trump and playing soccer in an Ultimate Fighting match.”
An Adams insider says petting the mayor was a shrewd strategy to stave off the worst of what Trump threatens to do. The theory is that instead of opposing Trump, as de Blasio did, and inciting the president’s punitive efforts, Adams could play nice and perhaps moderate Trump’s behavior. Flattering Trump’s ego can actually work sometimes. And his words were sometimes harsher than his actions. However, immigration hardliners like Homan and Stephen Miller can hardly be easily distracted. And a separate, challenging political-legal dynamic is fostering skepticism about the real motives for Adams’ seemingly modest approach toward Trump. Adams is under federal indictment for bribery conspiracy, fraud, and illegal campaign donations and is scheduled to be tried in April 2025—at the same time, he is trying re-election. Trump could be of great help to the mayor’s legal troubles, whether relying on the new prosecutor overseeing the case to drop the charges or eventually pardoning Adams, if the mayor — who did not plead guilty — be convicted.
Adams has repeatedly rejected the idea that his decision-making as mayor would be influenced by his legal troubles. “The mayor’s number one priority is to fight for New York,” said Fabien Levy, Adams’ deputy mayor for communications. However, other branches of city government are still waiting to see whether the mayor will face off against the president next year. Brad Lander, The city controller and Adams’ Democratic opponent in the 2025 mayoral race recently convened a meeting of business, religious, community and government representatives to discuss how the city best prepares for a second Trump administration. “I’m excited to see the work city agencies are doing to get ready,” Lander said. “But there will likely be key moments when the mayor having the support of those agencies — or joining us on the line between the shelter and the ICE raid — will be critical. Attending a UFC fight and hanging out with Trump is not a strategy for protecting immigrant families. I read it as an attempt by the mayor to protect himself.”
