Mayor Adams' Statement Following Meeting With Border Czar Tom Homan

February 13, 2025

 NEW YORK – New York City Mayor Eric Adams today released the following statement after meeting with “Border Czar” Tom Homan earlier today:

“As I have always said, immigrants have been crucial in building our city and will continue to be key to our future success, but we must fix our long-broken immigration system. Since the spring of 2022, New York City has been forced to shoulder the burden of a national humanitarian crisis where more than 230,000 migrants have come to our city seeking support, at a cost of approximately $7 billion, with little help from the previous administration. That is why I have been clear that I want to work with the new federal administration, not war with them, to find common ground and make better the lives of New Yorkers.

“Today, I met with ‘Border Czar’ Tom Homan and local federal law enforcement officials to discuss how we can work together to remove violent migrant gangs from our city. We are now working on implementing an executive order that will reestablish the ability for ICE agents to operate on Rikers Island — as was the case for 20 years — but now, instead, ICE agents would specifically be focused on assisting the correctional intelligence bureau in their criminal investigations, in particular those focused on violent criminals and gangs. We also discussed ways to embed more NYPD detectives into federal task forces, focusing on these violent gangs and criminal activity. Keeping the 8.3 million New Yorkers who call our city home safe is — and will always remain — our administration’s North Star.”

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