Transcript: Mayor Adams Holds In-Person Media Availability

January 21, 2025

Watch video here at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjG1HbytTt8

Mayor Eric Adams: First of all, good morning to everyone. So much is happening in our country. Yesterday was Inauguration Day, and it really is a sacred tradition in our country when you do an analysis of our ability to have the transferring of power in this country, as we celebrate 400 years of our history this year. And particularly, it was on Dr. King's day. 

And you know, sometimes I think we forget, we always talk about Dr. King's speeches of I Have a Dream, we talk about Dr. King's actions. Number one, I think we fail to reflect on where Dr. King was in his life during the time of his death, as he did [in] that profound speech, I've Been to the Mountaintop. It was a very difficult time for Dr. King. Some of the tabloids today, I say over and over again, who gave praise to him, were attacking him. 

People forgot that Dr. King was stabbed in his chest while he was coming from doing his speech. They forgot that people were throwing eggs at him. And even one of his speeches, where he said he's living under the constant fear of death and criticism, even from Negroes, a terminology that was used at that time. He was constantly being criticized for doing the right thing. 

And one thing he said that, as I was reflecting over the weekend, he talked about, we must put partisan politics aside to do what's best for our country. And I lived my life through the vision of Dr. King. He was my hero. I've just probably read just about every sermon that he did that I was able to get. And I know how hard it was. And when you look over some of his speeches and you talk about the transformation of when you're living in fear and you worry about your family, you have to stay focused. 

And there's a speech that he did that I think everyone should read, when he talked about sitting down at his kitchen table and when, all of a sudden, God had to become real for him. He couldn't call on his father. He couldn't call on his mother. He was thinking about his children. And he had to be focused and really have his faith. And that's what it's been like for me in the last year. God had to become real for me. This was a challenging year for me, last year, couple of months. And you cannot just read it. You have to believe it. And your faith has to be real. 

As I move forward this year, in 2025, I must continue to remain focused and disciplined to do the things that are important to this city and the people of this city that I committed my life to and that I love so much. And I'm going to continue to make the best calls for this city. And so, today, here at City Hall, we're just demonstrating how we want to continue to make this city a great place to raise healthy children and families. 

Last week, we delivered on another commitment to our state of the city, tackling the homeless issue, $650 million. This is the largest investment of this nature in our city's history, the largest investment. We keep saying this over and over again. This administration is going to be known by the records it has set for helping working-class people. 

This Bridge to Home initiative that we're doing will offer a supportive home-like environment to patients with serious mental illness who are ready for discharge from the hospitals, but do not have a place to go. It makes no sense. We know when we bring people into the hospital, we discharge them, they go right back to the streets. But we're hoping that this initiative that we're trying is going to have a safe landing for them. We're going to ensure these individuals stay on the path towards sustained success, and the plan will reduce emergency room visits, which has cost us so much money. Hospitalization, decreased homelessness and reliance on shelters, and lower interactions with the criminal justice system, that is our goal. And we're going to try, because nothing beats a failure than not to try. 

I think it was Wayne Gretzky that stated, you miss 100 percent of the shots you don't take. And so we're going to continue to take these shots and make sure we can move the city forward. So we have led on this issue from the front for three years. For three years, people kept telling us what we couldn't do, and we're just doing it, when you look at what we have accomplished. 

Additionally, last night, with the first of our new surge of NYPD personnel—you heard the governor talk about it at her State of the State address. Commissioner Tisch has been doing an amazing job. Oftentimes, we see the face of the agency leader, but, you know, I wanted to just bring on Chief—you can come closer, man. He’s just a great public servant behind the scene, took over after the previous chief went into a new role, and just one of the many executives that we have that can just fill in a position. 

Our bench is deep. And you know, your leadership, you just came on board and, you know, just really rallied the troops to do what's right. And so, last night was the first night of our new surge of NYPD personnel throughout the subway system, with a six-month effort that will ensure approximately 300 uniformed officers are deployed on nearly 150 overnight trains. You often have heard me talk about it, as a transit police officer, a different system. Go look at those pictures back there and what the system looked like. I rode the trains from 8 at night to 6 in the morning, mandatory overtime every night. But we knew we had to get the system under control. 

So this is not a new conversation about subway safety and how do we get it under control. 4.6 million riders, average of six felonies a day, increase in violent arrests are up. These officers are doing an amazing job under the chief. And thanks to our partnership with the governor, there will be two uniformed officers assigned to each train between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m., taking a phased—we're going to do a phased approach to rollout until we get to the roll of 300. So I'm going to turn it over to you, chief, and you can do an overview of what we're doing.

Chief Joseph Gulotta, Transit Bureau, Police Department: Okay. Good afternoon. So last night was the first night— 

Question: Can I get your name? 

Chief Gulotta: Sure. It's Chief Joseph Gulotta, I'm the chief of Transit. Last night we started our rollout of a police officer in every train on the overnights. It was very successful. We were able to get them out onto those trains. As we go forward, it's going to be a phased rollout, like the mayor said, and we plan to have a police officer in every train shortly on the overnights, and that'll be covering from 9 o'clock at night until 5 in the morning, before we hit the morning rush.

Mayor Adams: Can you go into the interactions with what they're going to be doing on the train?

Chief Gulotta: Sure. So our goal is to make sure we're on the train, we're stepping off the train at each station, we're switching to a different car at each station. We're going to make contact with the conductor and the motorman on these trains, and the goal for that is they're going to announce that a police officer is on that train. So if you get on that train and you may not see that police officer in the car, the MTA is going to make an announcement telling you, yes, there is a police officer on this train, and that'll alert people out of there. 

Secondly, at each platform, they're going to step off at the platform and step on another train, which is going to be also highly visible, and I think this is going to be a very effective way for us to move forward with this. 

Mayor Adams: Thank you. Lieutenant? Come on up. So your children can see what you’re doing. I want folks to see the men and women who do this job everyday. So if you have any questions for the chief on what we’re doing tonight.

Question: I was just wondering, will you have EMT backup in the sense that you're likely to encounter exactly the kind of people the mayor has been focused on? Who, through no fault of their own, find themselves finding shelter on the subways. Can you talk about that connection because I know it’s important to the mayor that you not criminalize people who, through no fault of their own, find themselves in the train at night.

Chief Gulotta: Our officers are highly, properly trained. They know how to handle those incidents. It’s part of what they do everyday.

Question: Good afternoon, chief. So, will there always be two on patrol, or will there be single patrols? And what particular lines are you highlighting right now, being that there are, I think, 64 that were rolled out last night?

Chief Gulotta: Well, as we roll it out, it's going to grow each day as we put more personnel in there. As far as, yes, there's going to be two officers on every train.

Question: What lines did you establish? 

[Crosstalk.]

Mayor Adams: The first 100, you said, right?

[Crosstalk.]

Chief Gulotta: The first lines would be the A, the G, the J, and the L.

Question: Yes, I heard Juliet mention how many were rolled out last night, and when will we get to the 300? And does the 300 mean that there will be two officers on every train line?

Chief Gulotta: Right now, we have 100 officers assigned to that, and it's going to be growing and rolling out as we go through it. We should have that up and running shortly.

Question: Currently, overnight sometimes, the conductor will say the train is delayed because of a police inspection. How often will that happen? How long is the delay going to be? And forgive me if this has been answered already, but how many total trains are there at any given time overnight, and does that mean that there's double the number of that for the number of police officers?

Chief Gulotta: Alright, so one at a time. Saturday, I was out on the train. I'll give you a perfect example. I got on the train, and an announcement was read by the MTA that there's a police officer on the platform and on the station when I got on the train. So it was not a service disruption. It was very clear there's a police officer, NYPD, on the train and platform, so it didn't delay anything, and it won't delay anything. And what's the other question?

Question: So I have been on the train for months. There'll be an announcement, the police are doing an inspection, there'll be a delay. Will that be system-wide, or will it not happen at all?

Chief Gulotta: This is not going to be an inspection. These are going to be officers riding these trains. We're not inspecting the cars. This is going to be moving from car to car, flowing. And like I said, I did it myself, and there was no service disruption whatsoever.

Question: Okay, the other question is how many total trains are there at any given time overnight, and does that mean that there'll be double that number for the number of police officers?

Chief Gulotta: There's 147.

Question: So it'll be whatever, two times that number of cops? 

Chief Gulotta: Correct. 

Question: Mr. Mayor, are you going to take a ride with these cops? 

Mayor Adams: I love being on the system. And thanks a lot, chief and lieutenant. And just to go back to the question about a delay, and I just always want to keep a top line issue. The police won't do inspections just to hold up the train. Whatever we must do to make sure people are safe, we're going to implement. 

So when officers walk through and do an inspection, it's not just merely a routine inspection. It is also– the officers are maybe looking for someone. There may have been a call over their radio. They may be walking through. But we're not going to compromise on safety at all, and that is important to us. 

And finally, before we open up to questions, medical debt. We're really excited about what we're doing with medical debt, particularly when it comes down to low-income communities in general, but specifically Black and Latino communities in particular, 50 percent and 35 percent, respectively, more likely to hold medical debt. 

What we're doing is we're partnering with the National Nonprofit Group undue medical debt to cancel $2 billion of medical debt. This is an $18 million investment that we're making, and letters have gone out. We've already sent out letters to 35,000 New Yorkers on the first wave. They qualify if their household income is at or below 400 percent of the federal poverty line and those with medical debt equal to 5 percent or more. This is so significant. The 35,000 New Yorkers that we're reaching out to right now, we're talking about $80 million of money back into their pockets. 

Each time we hear the stories of individuals who are dealing with medical debt, it just really impacts you. One should not feel that they're going to be bankrupt based on an unforeseen medical issue. This is the number one cause of bankruptcy. This is a huge initiative, and we just really want to thank our partner who's in this, involved with this, with us, undue medical debt. It's so important. So why don't we answer questions, open up and answer a few questions at this time.

Question: Mr. Mayor, I have two questions. The first one has to do with immigration. At his inauguration speech yesterday, the mayor said he was closing the border. 

Mayor Adams: The mayor or the president? 

Question:  Sorry, the government. 

[Crosstalk.]

Question: The president said that he was closing the border and that he was going to deport immigrants who commit crimes. I know that you, having met with Tom Homan, have that same idea that you would like to deport immigrants who commit crimes. 

But now that this has been made the law of the land, what effect is it going to have in New York? If ICE agents come to New York, will you be cooperating with them? And will you call some of these crimes part of the 170 crimes that New York City is allowed to cooperate with ICE with? Tell us what this means for New York and what you will do as mayor.

Mayor Adams: Again, Marcia, I have spoken and communicated on this issue to the point of being exhausting. I've been very clear on this. It is not going to change. I've communicated with the clergy group last week. I've communicated with other immigrant groups over and over again. We want to bring down the anxiety. We want our immigrants to know that this is a city of immigrants. This is a country of immigrants. It's imperative that you go to school, use the hospital service, use the police services. I went over this over and over again, and I'm just not going to keep having the same conversation over and over again.

Question: Mr. Mayor, the second question I have is the fact that you went to the inauguration and it provoked a lot of disappointment and anger on the part of people who participated in the Martin Luther King celebrations yesterday. Even the Reverend Sharpton said it would raise eyebrows. I wonder how you feel about the fact that people thought that you should have been here rather than at the inauguration ceremonies.

Mayor Adams: Dr. King talked about—when he lost his life in Memphis, he was talking about the union workers. Dr. King talked about housing and fought [for] housing. He talked about the delivery of services, unemployment. My life is the life that Dr. King was talking about when he [said] he had a dream. I'm living that dream. I'm living that dream. And my desire to be in Washington to make sure I continue to move forward on that dream. 

And, you know, Reverend Sharpton and I have a long history. He'll be the first to tell you. You want to sit down and talk to Reverend Sharpton, he will tell you that, you know, Eric and I would disagree. Some things we agree on others, but we have a long, rich history, and I respect what he has done. I'm pretty sure he'll tell you he respects what I have done, including being the initial board member of the National Action Network. And so, I do not take critiques personally. 

I must lead this city, navigate this city forward. And that's what I'm going to do. We took almost $7 billion out of our city under the previous administration. And I have to navigate us through this. And it's a very complex job to do so. But I'm happy with the team, what we have done, and we're going to continue to do it. 

And let's not forget, at the inauguration, you had Hakeem Jeffries, the minority leader. You had Chuck Schumer, [] the minority leader. You had other leaders from across the entire country. I had, you know, mayors and others who came up to me while I was in D.C. and said that it's important for us to deal with the issues our cities are facing, and we're supposed to be here. We had a new president, and I've said it before, I'm not going to be warring with the president. I'm going to be working with the president. And that's my responsibility as the mayor.

Question: So, are you happy that you made the decision to go to Washington?

Mayor Adams: Yes.

Question: Hello, Mr. Mayor. After yesterday's announcement by President Trump that he will reinstate service members fired for objecting COVID vaccine mandates, will you reconsider reinstating city workers, especially first responders, fired for the same reason?

Mayor Adams: Well, first of all, hats off to—really want to thank those New Yorkers. COVID was a challenging time. I remember speaking with Bill de Blasio, who was the mayor at the time, on a regular basis on how he had to make tough decisions. And one of the most difficult decisions—no New Yorker wanted to be told they have to take a vaccine or compelled to do so. It was a very difficult decision, closing down our city. 

We didn't know where COVID was going to take us. It was a pandemic that impacted the whole city, and we made sure that we had to make these tough decisions. And New Yorkers stepped up to that. And we put in place several different initiatives for those who received the mandate, and there were pathways of how to go about being reinstated. Corp counsel is handling these cases. Corp counsel would make the decision, and I respect the decision of the corporation counsel, as the attorney for the city, to decide how do we move forward.

Question: Mr. Mayor, the NYPD works with a lot of federal agencies already on various types of investigations, from drugs to criminal activity, criminal rings, gangs, that type of thing. In terms of the illegal deportations, will they be working with Homeland Security and ICE?

Mayor Adams: There's no restriction for the NYPD to coordinate with the various task forces around criminality. There's no restrictions. Nothing has changed there. We're going to continue to collaborate with all of our federal partners when it comes down to illegal behaviors. 

I was very clear for almost a year now, a year and a half now, those who commit violent crimes in our city have violated their right to be in our city and in our country. And we're going to continue to collaborate with ICE around criminality.

Question: And then in terms of congestion pricing, Governor Murphy's asking for President Trump to step in and reverse that. How do you feel about that? Did you talk with him about that at all?

Mayor Adams: No, we talked about FIFA. That's coming to our city. And I think that the federal government and the state government made their decision. MTA made their decision, and now the federal government is going to make their decision. What is within my span of control, I need to operate. And trust me, this is the second most difficult job in America. I don't need other things I need to worry about. I need to worry about the press and my city. 

Question: Why was it so last minute about the inauguration, given that last week you said to us here, this is Dr. King's day, I've got events I need to go to. Your office puts out a schedule saying you're going to those events. So why does it turn into a phone call at one o'clock in the morning and a sudden drive to D.C.? Why didn't you just tell us last week I'm going to the inauguration?

Mayor Adams: Because, and I remember Deputy Mayor Levy saying the same thing. Why don't you just say if you can't go? And I said, Fabien, I don't know yet. So I don't want to say– the worst thing would have happened if I would have said I'm not going. Then all of a sudden I would have attended. 

Each time you ask[ed] me, I said the same thing. I'm not sure. I'm trying to figure out my schedule. And when I received the call, then I said, you know what? I reached out to the team and said, listen, I need to go down to D.C. and we did the necessary movement. And listen, my guys, my security detail was driving 3 a.m. in the morning. I take my hat off to them for taking that four hour drive. And then I had to get up and, you know, do what I had to do to get prepared for it. So if I knew ahead of time, I would have shared that. But I did not want to say I was not going to do something then I would have done something.

Question: Did they literally call you on your phone at 1:30 in the morning or 2 in the morning? Like how did this come through?

Mayor Adams: I know you think the only reason I'm up at 1 a.m. in the morning is because I'm at a party. Listen, people reach me at 2, 3, 4 a.m. in the morning. Yes, I got a call that late. The administration would like to have you attend the inauguration.

Question: Going back to the migrants, you just said [inaudible]. And right now they don't know what to do, to stay in the shelters or leave the shelters. Would you recommend them to leave the shelters knowing that maybe it's going to happen, something with the rate that mass deportation that the president Donald Trump announced? Or what would you recommend?

Mayor Adams: Well, first of all, I recommended that prior to the election. That's why we did a 30 day, 60 day program. Successful. 180,000 migrants and asylum seekers took the next step on their journey. 220,000 came to the city. National leaders said no one did what you did, Eric. No one did what you did, Eric. I advocated for TPS. I advocated for the ability to work. I advocated for the right things for migrants and asylum seekers. 

No one came to America to live in a shelter. No one came to America to raise their child in a shelter. They came to America to pursue the American dream. The American people have communicated to the president of the United States. We need to secure our border. We need to make sure that we don't allow those with criminal intentions to come to our city and country. That's what the American people stated. And that is what we should be looking towards coordinating to make it happen. 

So, I encourage anyone that comes to the city to take the next step in the American dream. We have assisted them in doing so with our legal services and all the other services we have. And that is why national leaders have stated no one has done what you have done, Mayor Adams.

Question: So, Mr. Mayor, I wanted to get back to the inauguration. So, how does it look? What kind of look is it that after you just spoke admirably about Martin Luther King Jr., that you cancel your appearances here and accept a last minute invitation to go to Washington?

Mayor Adams: Dr. King's dream is not in Brooklyn or New York City. He clearly stated we have to put partisan politics to the side to deal with the issues that are facing the country. Nowhere is that more true than now. So, what it looked like is that there was a responsible mayor that wanted to be substantive of communicating with national leaders and symbolic of saying, I'm not only talking about we need to start the healing process of our country. I'm actually willing to do it. 

And I'm willing to take the criticism that comes with it. Go back, folks, and look at what was happening to Dr. King. I know we talk about, you know, we do all these speeches all over the city on his birthday. But go look what they were doing to Dr. King at that time. Dr. King would make the right decisions, although it was not the popular decision. And now we're reflecting on his life.

Question: But how do you think it looks to your base and your supporters?

Mayor Adams: I can show you a number of texts that came from my base and supporters who said, “Right on, mayor. Right on. We need to move this city forward, mayor.” Stop the bickering.

Question: Can we see the texts?

Mayor Adams: Wait, wait, wait. I know you're not calling out like that. You've been in all of these press conferences. You know that's not how we do it. I listen to you when you ask a question. Please listen to me. Please listen to me when I answer the question. Okay? Alright. Go ahead. 

Question: Just following up on that, you said Dr. King's [inaudible] was not in Brooklyn or New York City. But your team said you accepted the invitation to the inauguration on behalf of New York City. 
How did being relegated to the overflow room with the likes of Jake Paul and Conor McGregor and not getting anywhere near the president help the city? And also, do you have examples of text messages from your constituents who were saying, “Right on,” for going?

Mayor Adams: Yes. Yes, I do. And I'll share one that was very profound. I'll share with you two of them that [were] very profound and very touching. I'm not going to spend the entire conference talking about it. I answered the questions about why I went to D.C. I did that already. So let's go to another question. But remind me to give you those two text messages, okay?

Question: I wanted to ask you, yesterday, Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis mentioned that in a conversation with Tom Homan, he told her that after Chicago, New York City would be a target. I'm wondering if you heard that at all when you were in D.C. yesterday? 

And to go back to Sharpton, you mentioned respecting him and his opinions and him respecting yours. But I'm wondering if you're concerned that a longtime supporter of yours is questioning your decisions. And did you get a call from Sharpton yesterday about your decision to go to D.C.?

Mayor Adams: Let me do three levels. One, I answered the question about Tom over and over again, and my position stays the same. Number two, Reverend Sharpton and I have a long relationship. And I think he has articulated that to everyone over and over again about mutual love and respect for each other. And number three, no.

Question: The number one question is, you—today is the first day of Trump’s America. You are mayor of New York City, and you had a meeting with him. Many people are very curious to know exactly what was the content of the meeting, how you were received and what was discussed. And number two, it's a brutal cold, and there are many families, they don't want to send their kids to the school because of the cold. Do you have any message for them?

Mayor Adams: First, the conversation with the president was about delivery of service, improving our city from the— I think that day was actually the end of the war in Gaza. We had a conversation around that. We had infrastructure issues that we have in the city. And I shared, you know, our concerns about manufacturing, improving the city. 

So it was a top-level conversation of, you know, the president loves the city. He's from New York. And, you know, being able to see a mayor that loves the city, from New York, I think it was a good synergy. And it was a tight-line conversation that we're going to continue with the rest of his administration. Now, the cold issue, I didn't hear the cold part. What was the question about the cold issue?

Question: Yeah, so many families, they are not comfortable to send their kids to the school because of the cold and getting sick. So do you have a message or any decision about the cold that the school is offering?

Mayor Adams: I'm not understanding the question. 

[Crosstalk.]

You know, we have a large number of procedures during cold weather. We're telling New Yorkers, call 311 and report if they're not getting proper heat in their apartments or their buildings. That's important. You know, the weather dropped a lot. We had to chill here. Hats off to the Department of Sanitation, was ready for our snowstorm. And we want people to continue to call 311 if they're not getting the necessary amount of heat. 

Question: Quick question for you. So on the inauguration, afterwards, President Trump, he pledged to remove birthright citizenship, and he issued some pardons, actually a lot of pardons for the January 6th rioters. And he exited the country from the Paris Climate Accords. 

Now, obviously, like some of those are like, the Paris Accords, and the pardons are well within his power to do that, and you don't have any control over that as mayor. But I'm wondering just personally, do you agree with these decisions? Do you support some of the stuff he's doing on his first day?

Mayor Adams: Yeah. And you're right. I'm glad you said that. You know, there are a host of EOs that were done. And you know what? I do EOs. And people sometimes don't agree with my EOs. And one thing I want to be very clear on, is that the balance of power in this country, you know, those things I have power on, I could address those things that our executives, our legislative branch, they have power on. That's the balance of power in this country. 

He has the balance of power of using EOs. And one thing I got clear when I sat down with him, we're not going to agree on everything. But those areas that we disagree, I'm going to personally share with you. And he has given me that opportunity to communicate with him directly on issues we disagree, and I respect that. 

And, you know, throughout the time that he was running, you know, this was a tough time for us in how we implement our policies. He did not criticize, attack me publicly. And so, my job is to continue to deliver for the city. And I made it clear with him, where I disagree with you on, we will communicate. I agree, secure our border, because the American people have communicated that, make our city and our country affordable, and protect our streets. There are a host of things that I agree on, and I'm looking forward to doing. 

Question: Do you have, like, an opinion, like, do you disagree or disagree on those three things I mentioned, the Paris Accords, birthright citizenship, and the pardons for January 6th?

Mayor Adams: And if I do disagree, I will communicate with him directly on them. I don't want to be part of what feeds the anxiety of going back and forth in this public discourse that we're seeing. If things that he does that I disagree on, I will reach out to the president and communicate with him. And they're going to be things we agree on. They're things that we disagree on. I don't agree with myself 100 percent of the times. And when we need to, he's given me the opportunity to communicate with him, and I appreciate that greatly.

Question: Thank you. Mr. Mayor, back on the same questions that Joe had. You criticized President Biden for his handling of the migrant crisis, so why can't you share your opinion about January 6th? Do you hold Donald Trump accountable for what happened? 

Mayor Adams: Yeah, listen— And I'm glad you raised that, because go back to January—go back to 2021. I reached out to President Biden. I visited him before becoming mayor. I invited him to the city to look at law enforcement. I took 10 trips to Washington, D.C., to deal with what was happening to this amazing city around a migrant and asylum seeker crisis. 

I called myself the Biden of Brooklyn, because I thought the president really was dealing with those issues that impacted everyday working-class people. You know, we were missing an ATF head and finally brought that in place. And so, you shouldn't start out the gate criticizing. You should start out trying to collaborate, trying to cooperate. So the same thing I did for President Biden, I am doing for this president.

Question: So you can't say, well, do you hold Trump accountable for January 6th, 2021?

Mayor Adams: I answered that question already. Go ahead. 

Question: So much anxiety right now. You've talked about how important it is to bring down the anxiety among the immigrant community. So I have two questions. One is the—because of the anxiety, the shelter situation, if there's an event where somebody might be a criminal— And, you know, we know New York City will collaborate with the federal government when it comes to criminals. And somebody needs to be apprehended, in order to keep everything in an orderly fashion and to bring down, you know, the drama for the families and the children, I wonder if you're meeting with your staff to create some sort of protocols or, you know, something that they will follow in case that arises. Because that could happen. That's one. 

And two, are you hearing—because we know President Trump will revert the approval of a visa for migrants from Venezuela that President Biden approved. If the appointments are being canceled at court or if you're hearing that from, you know, attorneys in the coalitions, those two things.

Mayor Adams: No, we haven't— 

Question: [Inaudible.] This is why I'm bringing them up.

Mayor Adams: No, and I think your question is a legitimate one. And that is why it's so important to sit down and speak with ICE. That's why we've been communicating with the new border czar. Our team, we met with the officials, incoming officials from ICE, because it's important for us to have a conversation. 

Our role must be not to hear all the noise, but to find out specifically what is going to happen. You know, Allison, my chief counsel, has been coordinating with the corporation counsel. What exactly are we about to do? And if you don't do that, then you are really giving way to the anxiety. 

So, my job right now, as we work through all of this, is to tell our New Yorkers, documented or undocumented. Your tax dollars go to pay for your schools. It goes to pay for your protection, your hospital, your roadways. Continue to utilize the services that your tax dollars are paid for. 

No one asks your documentation when you go pay your taxes for a loaf of bread. You're paying for those services. So, we want to bring down those anxieties. Our team has been trained. We have done several scenario trainings, and we're going to continue to do that. But I haven't heard anything about the Venezuelan issue.

[Crosstalk.]

Question: Besides immigration, besides the borders, how do you think Donald Trump's election will help New York?

Mayor Adams: Well, I'm going to keep throwing this number out. We spent, NJ, close to $7 billion. I don't know why people don't realize the significance of that amount of money, $7 billion. And I need to see how we can try to recoup some of that money, so we can do the things that we want to do. 

The American people, they have joined in what I believe—we must secure our borders. We must make sure our borders are safe. And I think that's important, because the trickling effect of the lack of securing our borders, people— when I went down to the Darien Gap, people, all they knew was New York, New York, New York. So there's a trickling effect of doing so. 

We need to make sure that, an issue that has been ignored, I don't know if people realize the fentanyl crisis that we're having. Fentanyl coming from China, making its way through the southern part of this hemisphere, is crucial. We've got to stop these drugs [] from destroying our lives. Our overdose—Department of Health and Mental Hygiene has been sharing with me that, Eric, our overdoses are moving at a level that is not sustainable. 

And so, I think there's a number of things that we could do. Part of our whole making these cities safe to raise families is really what we're doing. And so, it's a combination, driving down crime, improving our economy. Yes, we've done an amazing job of bringing these 4.7—having 4.7 million jobs in the Small Business Services. But we could do so much more if the federal government is giving us the assistance that we deserve. And that's what I believe that we could do. And you can't do it with a closed fist. You do it with an open hand, and willing to collaborate. And that's what I want to do as mayor. 

Question: One is, my colleague, Brigid Bergin, on Friday reported that five early childhood centers got the news from the city that their leases weren't going to be renewed. And I know at the State of the City, you said that, you know, one of your priorities is to make New York City the best place to raise a family. How does this accomplish that? 

And secondly, at the NAN event over the weekend, Speaker Adams gave a speech in which she essentially called you a misogynist for distorting the legislation of the council. I wanted to know whether you heard her entire speech and if you could respond to her criticism of you as a misogynist.

Mayor Adams: Okay. So, two points. First, I spoke to Antonio Reynoso over the weekend, the borough president. He attended one of the childcare centers as a child, that's how long he's been around. And because when my team briefed me on it, I reached out to him and I said, help me understand what's going on here. Like, are we closing a center that's being used? And at the time that we looked at that center, we were paying a million dollars a year [on] rent, but only four children were registered. That just doesn't add up. 

And so, when I took over as mayor, we noticed that we had far too many centers that were being opened and we didn't have pupils in there. So, we had to realign the system. And so, after speaking with Antonio, I said, let's get the whole team in a room, you know, your team, our team, my team, so we can find out exactly what the issue is. 

I've been very clear. Every child that wants a seat will have access to a seat. We lived up to that. 150,000 children had access to seats. We're going to commit to that and we're going to continue to live up to that. So, if we have our information incorrect, or someone didn't register in time for those seats, we're willing to sit down and figure out how every child that wants a seat, every family, will have access to a seat. And that's what my conversation with Antonio was over the weekend.

Question: Have you considered those closures?

Mayor Adams: Yes. What's your second question?

Question: Oh, on the speaker. Yes. Calling you a misogynist.

Mayor Adams: Listen, we said go back to when we took office in January, 2022. We were at the Dr. King celebration with Reverend Sharpton, who has done an amazing job of just bringing together this unprecedented group of Black and brown leadership. 

And I've often quoted everything from the speakers, the majority leader, the speaker here in the city, the speaker, majority leader in Albany, the DAs, attorney general, Jumaane, myself, Congressman Jeffries, who's in charge of committees in the Senate, the Assembly, you know, the leadership we're seeing in Washington. Yvette Clarke is now leading the caucus. Grace Meng is leading the caucuses. Congressman Espaillat is leading the caucus. We have unprecedented Black and brown leadership. 

We stood on that stage in January 2022, and we stated that we would not have public discourse, because that's the worst thing that we could do to ourselves. I lived up to that. I lived up to that. I'm going to continue to live up to that. I can't answer for others. That was a commitment we all made. 

How could someone use that title to define me? When you look at my administration, the number of women in leadership in our administration is just unprecedented. It has never been this way in the history of this city. And so, you know, name-calling is not going to solve anything. I reach out to the speaker often and say I'm proud of what we have done together to move this city forward. We should be celebrating this moment. Two Baysiders are running the City of New York, and I'm really pleased with what we have accomplished. I lived up to what I promised on Dr. King's birthday, and others have to answer what they do. 

Question: A follow-up to some of the earlier questions. What specific guidance are you giving city agencies regarding what to do if ICE shows up requesting access to city facilities? Is it changing my agency? Are things kind of evolving as we go further into the incumbent administration? 

And I know you've invoked Dr. King's memory and his legacy a lot from yesterday. It was his day, and it was also Inauguration Day. Do you see any similarities between President Trump and Dr. King? I know in your statement yesterday that you tweeted, you said it was sort of what Dr. King would have wanted you to attend an inauguration like that instead of those services here. So, I'm wondering if you see any similarities.

Mayor Adams: First, we're telling our team and staffers to follow the law. Follow the law. That's what we're telling them. The law is clear, we’re going to follow the law. And that's what we have been instructed. My team, Allison and Muriel, they have been very clear. They've been weeding through, been very clear on the law, and we're telling our team to follow the law. And your question about Dr. King and President Trump, I'd rather not even entertain that. They are who they are, and their legacy is going to be their legacy. Dr. King's legacy is clear.

Question: I was at the Covenant Avenue MLK event. I promise I won't ask about MLK specifically. But I want to follow up on your comments about not wanting to war with President Trump or criticize him publicly. You said you'd do it privately. But at the Covenant event, I noticed that a lot of local politicians and many of your ardent supporters seem to want to see you be a warrior on local trans rights, local immigrant rights, local abortion rights. So what do you say to those New Yorkers that want to see you take a more combative stance against the new Trump administration?

Mayor Adams: Look at my life. My brother-in-law did not allow me back in his church after I led the charge in the Senate for marriage equality. When he was alive, he said, you cannot come back in my church. Look at the role I've done around here in the city, the women's right to choose. It's been very clear in the city. We're leading the country on this issue. 

And so, I ask people who have a question, as I said, at NAN, when I became a police officer, people called me an Uncle Tom. They called me a sellout. The names were unreal, what they called me, when I decided to become a police officer, when Reverend Herbert Daughtry told me to go into the Police Department. 

And so, you have to be willing to take the name callings. You have to be willing to take the attacks and criticism. And people will do the same thing they're doing right now with Dr. King. They will then look over a person's life and see their legacy. I cannot tell you enough, we're romanticizing who King was to this country. Go back and look before his death. That's not what people were saying. And so, yes, I'm going to be called names. People are going to say all sorts of criticisms about me. They’re going to say a host of things. 

But I do know that 220,000 people that entered this city are going to look back and say, this was a mayor that allowed us to pursue our American dream. Those who are not the victims of gun violence are going to look at the 20,000 guns I removed off the streets. Those foster care children that we're paying their college tuition. People we are helping with medical debt. People who we got back into the employment stream. People are going to look back over my years as mayor and say this was a mayor that was willing to withstand all that came at him. 

For my first week in office, people were already protesting, criticizing, attacking me for removing encampments off streets, for removing guns off streets, for putting my gun unit in place. I was being attacked from day one. But I never got unfocused. And I delivered for this city. And now we're a better city because of that.

Question: You mentioned before, and if I have this wrong, please correct me, but your city attorneys have been in touch with the federal government about those immigration enforcements. And you said that they were figuring out what to do. Can you tell us specifically what they've been told or what you've been told by the federal government about what's going to happen? 

And I ask this because the sanctuary laws don't allow a lot of wiggle room. And we all know that ICE is still doing enforcements, and they're obviously doing targeted enforcements. So there's not a lot of room there for the city to cooperate with ICE, what is actually going to happen?

Mayor Adams: Great question. First of all, there is a lot of room. We already have task forces with our federal partners. The law is clear. The law is clear of criminality. I made that clear. Even before the elections, I made that clear. And we're there focused. People who commit these violent crimes must be addressed. And that is our conversation with ICE. 

That's the conversation that our team of attorneys, both my chief counsel and the corp counsel, and that is the conversation we've been having. Those who commit crimes in our cities, plural, we are going to—we should be sending a strong message that not only victims of documented New Yorkers, but also undocumented New Yorkers, people are preying on undocumented New Yorkers, as well, who are trying to pursue the American dream.

Question: But ICE is already doing that. 

Mayor Adams: I'm sorry? 

Question: ICE is already doing that.

Mayor Adams: Right. Are they doing that to the capacity that this president believes? I'm not sure. And so that was our coordination and collaboration, and I'm glad that we do have the ability to do that. 

Question: So you're saying your guidance to city agencies is to follow the law. If I'm remembering correctly, that was the guidance a month ago, two months ago. We've talked about this in the past. You've not issued any updated guidance to, say, people who are overseeing shelters, given that the president is promising, you know, mass deportations, a major overhaul in immigration policy?

[Crosstalk.]

Question: What is the new guidance?

Mayor Adams: Listen, no matter the training that we do, it comes to one thing. The federal government is responsible for immigration policies. That is the role of the federal government. So no matter… our training is to make sure that they know that, our agencies know that. And we have carried out training. We have carried out, like I said, scenario and role playing. We have instructed our agencies. 
But we all need to be clear on this, which a lot of people don't fully get. The federal government is responsible for immigration policies. And the problem we've had the last time is that they've abdicated that, and it costs us $7 billion. We're not going to do that. We're going to follow the law, and we're going to make sure those who are responsible are those individuals who are going to carry out the implementation. And so before—I'm sorry, go ahead. 

Question: I'm trying to work through this. Yeah. You're talking about, you know, you're concerned with filing undocumented people here. The Trump administration has not—they're not just talking about people who have been, you know, convicted of abuse or violent acts. They're saying that people who are here illegally are part of this grand net. So if you have ICE show up at a shelter, they're there to arrest undocumented people who have not been, you know, accused or convicted of any crime. What do you want to see happen there? What should the city do to protect these people who are not?

Mayor Adams: Okay and I cannot say it clearer. Those questions were asked of me several times in several different ways. I answered them over and over again, and I'm not going to go over that over and over again. Look at my old off topics, and you'll see my response to that. I'm not going to do repeated questions over and over again. 

Question: Your [inaudible] commissioner, Castro, did express concern at the City Council immigration hearing about sensitive locations where up to now, like hospitals, schools, the kind of places you've said you want people not to make sure that they go to seek healthcare and education. And I just wonder if you're not concerned about that. 

And the second question would be, in the group of people who were pardoned—and I know it's important for you to be practical and try to get the best deal for the city with the current president— were you concerned that individuals who violently assaulted police officers were also granted this largesse from the president?

Mayor Adams: Well, I think that when you look at the fact that—it was a powerful statement that President Biden put out on why he pardoned his family. I don't know if everyone read that. When you read that and you put it with what President Biden stated about his Justice Department was politicized, you look at how this system has been, and you have to really raise questions. I raised it. President Trump raised it. President Biden raised it. You know, that's something that we should all reflect on. 

And so, the president has the powers to execute several things, from his EOs to pardons to sign-in laws. That is the balance of power in our country. And I respect the balance of power of our country. I think that this is the best country on the globe. And I'm going to continue to do my part here in the City of New York, which is the best city and the best country on the globe. 

Question: On the sensitive locations? 

Mayor Adams: Yeah, I think that the sensitive locations play a role. And I reached out to my pastors, Pastor Monrose, who is something that we've often talked about. And it's all part of our conversations that we're having with ICE about these sensitive locations and other aspects of it. Listen, we've been having good conversations with ICE. We're going to continue to do so. Our team knows how important it is to coordinate. And if you're not at the table, you're not able to give real good input. And that is our goal. That's what we want to [focus] on doing. 

Listen, I just want to take a moment to reflect on probably one of the most painful moments when I was elected as mayor, and that was losing Detective Rivera and Mora. I still can remember going to that hospital and hearing their loved ones and family members, you know, crying and screaming, saying, please, God, say it's not true. These were two young officers. It was at the beginning of my administration. And, you know, when you think about that, I always think about—I remember walking behind one of the caskets on that snowy day. These officers placed their lives on the line, and this is the anniversary of their deaths. And we should always keep in mind when we think about what these police officers are doing every day. Thank you.

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