New York City Mayor Eric Adams said that his office is preparing for changes to immigration policy under the leadership of President-elect Donald Trump.
The sanctuary city is “putting in place several scenarios and we’ll respond accordingly” to address changes that may be coming out of Washington, according to the mayor on Tuesday.
“We’re planning, we’re coordinating, we’re doing scenario planning, we don’t know exactly what are the next steps yet.”
On the campaign trail, Trump vowed to conduct the largest deportation of illegal immigrants in U.S. history.
During Tuesday’s press briefing, Adams made it clear that he does not support mass deportation.
“I am a supporter of making sure our borders are secure, whomever is paroled into this country has a pathway to employment so they could provide for themselves,” the mayor stated.
Tom Homan, Trump’s newly chosen “border czar,” is a former police officer and Border Patrol agent known for his hardline stance on immigration.
Homan said in a recent interview with CBS “60 Minutes” that workplace enforcement operations are “going to be necessary.”
“Worksite enforcement operations is just not about people working in the country illegally and companies that hire them that’s going to undercut their competition to hire U.S. citizen employees,” Homan said. “That’s where we find a lot of trafficking cases—women and children who are forced into forced labor to pay off their smuggling fees.”
Adams acknowledged that the immigration system is a “failure” and “an embarrassment.”
He also said that he wants migrants to have a pathway to employment, specifically citing the need to expedite right-to-work programs that allow them to earn a paycheck. Industries hurting from a lack of employees, such as construction and food industries, would benefit from the program, according to the mayor.
While he reiterated that the laws of a sanctuary city remain in place, he’s willing to sit down with the new Trump administration like he tried to with the Biden administration.
New York City has been grappling with an influx of migrants since 2022. Adams recently announced that the city would be ending its controversial food voucher program for migrants. The one-year pilot program distributed prepaid debit cards to migrant families staying in city-funded hotels and allowed them to purchase their own food.
“It was an emergency and now we’re moving in another direction,” Adams told local media last week.
The mayor said his office plans to reach out to Homan so that city agencies can get more clarity on what it can or cannot do with migrants under the new administration.
Meanwhile, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said she’s prepared to defend residents’ fundamental freedoms under the incoming administration.