Mayor Adams is facing Congressional scrutiny at a House Oversight Committee hearing on sanctuary city policies in Democratic cities on Wednesday.
Members of the GOP-led committee will take turns grilling Adams, as well as the mayors of Boston, Chicago and Denver, on sanctuary city laws, which block local law enforcement from cooperating with federal immigration authorities on immigration matters.
In his opening remarks, Adams said sanctuary laws are necessary for New York in order to ensure residents can access resources like schools, medical care and public safety help — but he also said he wants to collaborate with feds to go after migrants who have committed crimes.
“Comprehensive immigration reform is long overdue,” Adams said in his opening remarks. “While the solution is not within my control, as a mayor, I am committed to working with federal officials — no matter who is president — to go after violent gangs and those who harm residents of our city.”
The mayor’s testimony at the hearing, which is expected to go on for hours, will be closely scrutinized as Adams has come under fire after the Department of Justice moved to dismiss his federal corruption case on the basis that it hindered the mayor from carrying out the president’s hardline immigration policies.
Ranking member Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) blasted Adams and the Justice Department’s move at the top of his remarks at the hearing.
“President Trump’s Department of Justice has tried to force the conditional dismissal of very serious charges against one of our witnesses here today,” Connolly said. “In exchange for that, the witness is told to be in complete submission to the radical immigration agenda being propounded by the administration.”
Rep. James Comer, a Kentucky Republican, slammed sanctuary policies, which don’t have any one legal definition, in his opening statement.
“Let’s be clear, these policies only create sanctuary for criminals,” Comer said. “Sanctuary policies violate federal immigration law by protecting criminal aliens at the expense of the American people.”
Minutes before the hearing began, Adams emphasized the importance of immigrants in New York City’s history and a need to balance that with a need to for the federal government to manage the border.
“They did their job, and we had an obligation to do what was right,” Adams said ahead of the hearing. “I can’t control who comes across our border… but I have an obligation and responsibility for every New Yorker to receive the services and care that they deserve.”
He entered the hearing room just before the 10 a.m. start time and flashed a thumbs up to photographers.
The mayor has been meeting daily with his legal, communications and intergovernmental teams for the two weeks leading up to the meeting, his spokesperson Kayla Mamelak said.
Adams traveled to Washington, D.C., on Tuesday ahead of the meeting and was accompanied by several members of his communications team, his chief counsel deputy mayors Camille Joseph Varlack and Tiffany Raspberry.
Adams plans to argue that immigrants have played an important role in New York — but that some sanctuary policies should be walked back and that law enforcement authorities should deport those who violate laws, the mayor said at a press conference on Monday.
“I think it’s important to tell the real story and also to be very clear: It’s a privilege to be in this great country,” Adams said. “If you come here to violate our crimes and abuse people after you serve your time, you should not be in this country.”
The committee released a dramatic video ahead of the hearing that features photos of the four mayors overlaid with a burning U.S. Constitution as well as clips of a Times Square migrant brawl with cops and hundreds of migrants waiting outside the Roosevelt Hotel shelter, which Adams recently announced would shut down.
🚨 BREAKING: Boston, Chicago, Denver, NYC Sanctuary Mayors to Be Held Publicly Accountable on March 5 pic.twitter.com/ANujXq9tBm
— Oversight Committee (@GOPoversight) February 26, 2025
In the video, Comer, a Kentucky Republican, threatened to pull federal funding for cities who go against federal immigration laws.
“These jurisdictions take it upon themselves to decide what laws they will and will not abide by, all for the purpose of shielding removable aliens, especially criminals, from federal law enforcement,” Comer wrote in a letter asking Adams to testify.
While Adams got ready to testify before the hearing at the U.S. Capitol, some of his declared — and potential — challengers in June’s mayoral primary gathered on the steps of New York City Hall to decry his push to undo some of the city’s sanctuary protections and his commitment to work with Trump on immigration enforcement.
Comptroller Brad Lander, who is challenging the mayor in June, noted studies show sanctuary jurisdictions tend to have lower crime rates than non-sanctuary jurisdictions due to an increased willingness among immigrant communities to report crimes and interact with law enforcement.
“We can’t have a mayor who takes orders from Donald Trump,” Lander said, prompting Public Advocate Jumaane Williams to chime in: “We do, though.”
The mayor has received fierce criticism from many who say he is beholden to Trump and White House immigration policies after the Department of Justice moved to dismiss his federal corruption charges last month.
Justice Department officials argued in court filings that Adams could better assist the president’s immigration agenda if his case was lifted.
That move set off a heated week between the prosecutors in the case and the Department of Justice — with several Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s office lawyers resigning from their posts after being asked to put their weight behind a formal request to dismiss the case.
Four top deputies in the Adams administration also submitted their resignations in the aftermath.
Adams has both denied the charges in the indictment and any quid pro quo.
Shortly after the Justice Department moved to drop his charges, Adams appeared alongside border czar Tom Homan on Fox and Friends, where he promised an executive order that would allow ICE back on Rikers Island.
The mayor declined to give an update on the Rikers executive order Monday.
With Chris Sommerfeldt