Transcript: Mayor Adams Holds In-Person Media Availability

February 24, 2025

Watch the video here at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OuGfWL-hQc

Mayor Eric Adams: Oh, I love that song. Good to see some of you. It's great to have a packed room, it's an indication that you miss me. We're clear on our mission and that's why we put up those three points over and over again.

Want to make this city place to raise family and today we announced that thanks to the successful strategies we put in place on New York City in New York City because of the probably the largest humanitarian crisis the city has ever experienced. We are announcing that the Roosevelt Hotel which has served as both our Asylum Arrival Center and a Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Center for nearly two years will be closing in the coming months.

The Roosevelt Hotel opened May 2023 during the height of the crisis when we were receiving 4,000 people a week. You got to just really think about that. 4,000 people a week and thanks to our policies we were down to an average of just 350 new arrivals. These were policies we put in place on how we should alter what happens at the border. What we can do here to transition out those 30- and 60-day programs we put in place that you know critics were criticizing but it allowed us to get over 180,000 people out of our care and off taxpayers payroll. And over the 223,000 migrants that entered, went through a well-organized process of getting them through the system and processing almost 75 percent of individuals that came into our care.

And now thanks to the sound policy, really hats off to Deputy Mayor Williams-Isom, Chief of Staff Camille Joseph-Varlack, Molly, Zach Iscol, the commissioner of OEM of just really doing a job on behalf of New Yorkers. And when you look at this announcement, you're looking at 53 sites were closing within the span of one year. It's almost impossible when I think about going to Floyd Bennett Fields going over to Randall's Island looking at these locations and remembering in the midst of this crisis and we're helping asylum seekers take the next steps in their journeys and we are seeing taxpayers New Yorkers we're saving taxpayer New Yorkers millions of dollars. And so really hats off to the team.

Public Safety, Community Link. We were proud to continue our process of making sure our city is safe. When you think of 20,000 illegal guns were removed off our streets since this administration start, but as I said many times public safety is a prerequisite to prosperity. It requires close collaboration among many agencies and outside partners in every community to ensure this and we unveiled our latest Community Link initiative for the Hunts Point Mott Haven neighborhoods last week also known as the Hub in the South Bronx this neighborhood has faced difficult quality of life issues including substance abuse, homelessness, overflowing trash, illegal vending, unlicensed cannabis shops and more.

This has been in place for far too long, and bringing all of the agencies together is our way of really dismantling the walls that get in the way and is going to include NYPD, Department of Buildings, Health, Homeless Services, Sanitation and Transportation to address the chronic problem that we've witnessed there. And over the last 19 months, Community Link has responded to over 1,200 complaints and conducted 1,200 operations making neighborhoods [] cleaner and safer through these joint operations.

And I want to also just briefly talk about what's taking place right now in the City Council around the gang database and I just believe that it's important that we can't be so idealistic that we're not realistic. We do have gangs in our city and some of them are extremely dangerous and some of them are repeated offenders and many of them prey on innocent people in their communities. And I know people say that close to 96 percent of the people in the database are people of color.

Well, you know, there's a number that they leave out. 96 percent of the victims of shootings in the city are people of color. Let's keep them in mind as we look to identify those who are participating in this dangerous violence. And we're not doing a one-size-fits-all society approach. We also have put in place for justice-involved young people ways to have a pathway out of gangs. We put millions of dollars in the crisis management team. But one of the biggest problems you have with gangs is the problem of retaliatory shootings. That is stopping those retaliatory shooters by using the right investigation. So we should think clearly before we make any major changes in the database space.

Lastly, affordability. We shared our bold new vision for America's playground, Coney Island. Started my policing career there. So I know the opportunities that exist. This redeployment will bring 1,500 new mixed-income homes, as well as make critical investments in new streets and sewers, the boardwalk. And we're also investing $42 million to renovate Abe Stark Sports Center. Hats off to Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer and her accomplishments, accomplishment in pushing this through. Dan Garodnick and Adolfo Carrion, the commissioner over at HPD.

And hats off also to Matt Fraser, our CTO. Five-year agreement, he announced, with T-Mobile to make them a major carrier to support city operations on city-issue mobile devices. This is a huge, huge win. 300,000 working-class New Yorkers and their families will benefit from that. And we're looking forward to implementing it. And so, Kayla, why don't we open up for a few questions?

Question: I have two questions. The first one has to do with the closing of Roosevelt Hotel. But I'm wondering if you think that the drop in the number of people who are going to the Roosevelt Hotel as an intake center is in any way related to the fact that we have new immigration policies enacted by President Trump and that people don't want to just come to the United States anymore because of what's happening?

Mayor Adams: Well, I think it's a combination. We started to see decreases in numbers prior to the incoming president. You started to see decrease in numbers. There were some alterations being made at the border. This is what we called for and advocated for and American people have communicated. We need to secure our border.

And so I think it's a combination. There were many rivers that were feeding the humanitarian crisis. And this was one of them that we advocated for and we're going to continue to advocate for. There's nothing humane about having individuals enter the country with no place to go, no sponsors here, no ability to take care of themselves and pushing the cost of it onto cities. It's just wrong. And so we saw seven straight months of decline long before the president came into office. And we believe it's a combination of what we have done here and some changes at the border.

Question: Next question has to do with a new poll about the mayor's race, which has Andrew Cuomo far and away ahead. Open in the first round of 36 percent to only 15 percent for you, Scott Stoner in second. But when it plays out over ranked choice voting, you win the 63 percent of the vote. Your reaction?

Mayor Adams: You know, this is, this is early. This is the, I like to say this is using sports analogy. This is the season. The playoff starts, you know, once petitions are actually completed. You know, there's a lot of time till June. I talked to before Andrew Yang leading me by double digits of, you know, in February and we saw what happened. We're not calling Andrew Yang mayor. We're saying Eric Adams is mayor. And so things happen in [the] mayoral race. People come in, people get out, things happen, stuff pops up. That's just the reality of this, of this game. And so, you know, I want to focus on running the city and not get into the mayoral race. That's going to be done on the campaign trail.

[Crosstalk.]

Question: We just went to Roosevelt Hotel, we spoke to a lot of migrants there. If they are very concerned right now, what is going to happen to them? Because they said that they were supposed to be there with you April or May. They don't know if they're going to be [inaudible].

Mayor Adams: We're going to fulfill our promise. If April and May, they will have locations. If it's not there, it'll be somewhere. Those who get the 30- and 60-day notifications. We're going to fulfill that. And we did not successfully move 180,000 people out of the system by breaking promises and not doing what we committed to do. We committed to carrying out this function. We're going to continue to do that.

Question: Have you considered recusing yourself from immigration matters? And is that something you discussed with the Governor's Office with the four deputy mayors who are resigning or with the Law Department?

Mayor Adams: Our team is looking at every way possible to make sure that we are in compliance and those discussions are still going on and those are discussions. I'm having with with our legal team, but I'm not going to go into those private discussions. That's why it's attorney-client privilege.

Question: So, the governor last week put these new, well proposed these new guardrails for your administration. I guess, first of all, what's your reaction to that? And then also, how does that affect your relationship with her? You've had a good working relationship with the governor. Does this say she's no longer confident in your leadership?

Mayor Adams: No, we have not had a good relationship. We've had a great relationship. Every time I called on the governor, she was there. Subway safety plans. We need another billion dollars to get past the City of Yes. What we've done around public safety to continue unprecedented decrease in crimes. She helped us get retained control of the schools. She helped our housing plan. I can go down the list over and over and over again.

I stated there's no legal reason to do this because some of what she's asking it must pass a law. And if you have to pass the law, that means right now, it's not legally in place. And so the governor must make her decision to govern the state. I must make the decision to govern the city. There's going to be things we're going to we're going to agree on. They're going to be things we're going to disagree on, but we're going to come together and understand that we need to make this a safe place for children and families.

Question: Mayor Adams, in regards to migrant arrival slowing down, is the city going to phase out its contract with the New York Hotel Association? And then going off of that, what will it take for you and your administration to declare the migrant crisis is over?

Mayor Adams: We're going to continue. The team is continuing to speak with all of the providers, the contracts, all of the entities that are involved. The team would handle that. Deputy Mayor Williams-Isom, Camille, the whole team would do that. I have a great deal of confidence for them. And that's a great question on what it's going to take to declare the migrant crisis is actually over. I think that we're going to, we need a substantial number.

We still have a substantial number of people still in. There's so much equivalent to our normal homeless population. And the goal is to get every family individual out of our care to determine that, number one, the border crisis is under control, which we're seeing a substantial decrease at the border and those who are arriving in the city, because we're still getting about 300. That's a substantial number of people. So, I would have to really think about how do we designate it as being over. I don't want to be premature and say mission accomplished until we accomplish the mission. And let the team tell me. Eric, we feel we're at the right place.

Question: So you mentioned Deputy Mayor Williams-Isom a couple of times already. She is one of the deputy mayors who is resigning. So how is that going to affect your path going forward as far as closing these migrant shelters? She's been pretty important in that regard, right?

Mayor Adams: Listen, I want to be real clear. Hate seeing them going, leaving, love them. And I'm pretty sure, as I stated before, you put a microphone in their faces, they say the same thing. What's good about this city, and particularly of this administration, our bench is deep. We have great people identified already to take their places and all of them would tell you, as great as they are and as great as they may think I am, it is the team that will actually make it happen.

And though team members are still in place, they understand how do you move these pieces around and we're going to continue to work. That's what's great about this city. No matter what happens, you have deep people on your bench and you have deep people in the city that's willing to step up. I don't have a shortage of New Yorkers and people in the administration that are saying, hey, we would like to continue the work that we're doing.

Question: I was just with Congressman Torres and I'm sure you saw the news that he sort of pre-endorsed Andrew Cuomo even though he's not in the race. And I was kind of pushing him on why he would do this now and he made a point that I wanted to get your response to if I could.

He said, I'm reflecting the will of my people, which is to say Black and brown working-class people in the South Bronx. So are you concerned that you've lost the faith of the people as the congressman is implying?

Mayor Adams: Well, Congressman Torres also called for the former governor to step down. I don't know what happened differently now. And when I go up to the Bronx, I see the will of the people embracing my working-class agenda from returning 30 billion dollars back into their pockets to dealing with crime and public safety and so many other issues. Campaign is going to take care of itself. This is all, this is all the craziness of a campaign season and my job is to run the city and I'm going to continue to do that.

Question: You've still, you've been able to reduce the number of migrants coming in is reduced by over 90 percent now, it seems. You've still got, you know, what, three to four hundred are coming in every week. Yes. What do you propose to do about those migrants that are coming in now? How will they be handled?

Mayor Adams: Same process, you know, we will have some form of intake, some form of way of placing them back into the city. Placing them back, place them on their feet so that they can participate in the pursuit of the American Dream.

We're hoping that we will continue to secure the border to bring that number down even more. But we're going to do the same process that we've always done to help individuals. Even before the migrants and asylum seekers, those who were new arrivals to the city documented or undocumented, you were encouraged to educate your children.

We don't allow children to be in our city without going through education. You were allowed to go to the hospital if you needed medical care. You were a victim of a crime. We encourage you to use the police to report it. So nothing changes. The same methodologies that we use prior to the crisis are still in place. There are still agencies that are in place to help people who are in need of help in the city and that is not going to change.

Question: If they're arriving here, sir, believing that this is a sanctuary city, should they feel protected?

Mayor Adams: The city is a sanctuary city. You know, that's what the law requires for us. So they should believe that is the case. But I cannot be any clearer. If you come here thinking you're going to commit a violent crime, this is not the place for you.

Question: I saw this morning you were at the Ukrainian flag raising and you talked about the terror that Ukraine has endured the past few years. I'm curious. You called New York the Kyiv of America. Do you believe Volodymyr Zelensky is a dictator?

Mayor Adams: I wasn't at a flag raising. I was at the funeral today for a fallen member of the Department of Sanitation, New York's strongest. I don't have an opinion on who he is or who he's not. I have a large Ukrainian population here in the city. I have a large Russian-speaking population here in the city and I try my best. I'm not always successful at doing it, but I try my best to not to allow the international politics to impact on those who are here in the city.

And I must stand up and represent those who are Ukrainian descent and those who are Russian-speaking descent to make sure that they feel that the city is going to be there for them. When the Ukrainian refugees came here, we allocated a substantial amount of money for them in their transition and I'm going to continue to do that. And so I'm going to show the local diaspora here in the city that that they are welcome here like all the flag raisings that I do, you know, and I'm going to continue to do that.

Question: Just a couple of questions. First about the executive order, the money you had talked about what the border czar, Tom Homan. Can you give us a few details about that when you plan on signing this into order, what you plan on actually doing and what that will actually entail? Will it just be about putting ICE inside Rikers or will that include anything else?

The second one I wanted to ask, could you address this impression that the White House and that Tom Homan are telling you what to do? We saw the Fox News interview and that was pretty ugly the way he was saying he was going to be up your butt if this didn't happen. But could you address this perception by what everybody has about this relationship with him and the White House?

Mayor Adams: First, the Corp Counsel and our legal team is dealing with the EO and how that's going to be handled. Tom made it clear prior to coming on camera, he and I were ribbing each other, joking with each other and he made it clear that he was joking. You know, people want to grasp onto things and make it more than it is. That's just the universe we're in. You know, everything you say, like I've been saying this for a long time, the road police want to just exploit it.

I am in alignment with whatever we have to do legally to keep our city safe. And what I really find fascinating is everyone have been saying over and over again, okay, Eric, you've changed your policies, you changed the way you think about this.

Go back and look at what I've been saying. Point out what I've been saying then, pre-election and what I'm saying now and tell me what is the difference between the two. No one's able to find that. I've been talking about, you know, the whole illegal gangs I've been talking about. They should not be in the city. This is the same thing I've been saying. And so if there's something I'm saying now that I didn't say then, I just need to know what it is because it's not. They are helping me with the agenda that I stated the previous administration should have been helping me with. And I thank them for helping me with it.

Question: I'm wondering if you see it as helping your administration in the city to remove the 80 million dollars. How do you make sense of those two that the feds took that money from the city and somehow are also helping you with the migrant situation? And then I think you said you have selected people to fill those DM roles. Can you clarify on that?

Mayor Adams: Yeah. Okay. First, we believe the money that was committed from the previous administration, we are entitled to and that's why the Corporation Counsel did the lawsuit because of that. We believe that we deserve more.

Now, what is the difference between what we're doing and others? How many lawsuits did the comptroller, the public advocate, the speaker, how many did they do when the previous administration took seven billion dollars from us? How many? None.

You cannot stand up when it's a president that you like. You have to be consistent and fighting on behalf of New Yorkers. They did not criticize the White House one time when we were being inundated with migrants and asylum seekers. They were silent. They said nothing. They didn't bring about any legal challenges. They did nothing at all.

Question: [Inaudible.]

Mayor Adams: No, this again, they got one. Let me give you one for example. We were not, I'm not, I wasn't in support of appealing the decision over non-citizen voting. I was not in support of that. They were in support of that. They got a outside counsel to represent them and that counsel can't speak with me. So they can go to the Corporation Counsel. The Corporation Counsel doesn't work for the mayor. The Corporation Counsel works for the City of New York. So they could have brought a legal challenge. Don't let them lie to you.

[Crosstalk.]

Question: Mr. Mayor, my second question. You said you filled those roles, is that true?

Mayor Adams: We've said this a thousand times. When it's time to make announcements, we will make those announcements. And so when it's time for us to make the announcement, we will make those announcements. We don't have any vacant positions right now in our administration. The amazing DMs are saying we're here to have a smooth transition.

You know, so we're going to we're going to continue to do that. So when it's time to make the announcement, we're going to stand up here. They're going to go to the right of me. They're going to be to the left of me and I'm going to say here are my new DMs and you know, just want to circle back to the statement that you made. Those citywide electors, the public advocate, the speaker, the comptroller, they have attorney-client privilege, like I have attorney-client privilege.

Question: So the governor had said early last week, she was worried about the future of this administration. She was having meetings with several people to decide what to do and then propose these guardrails. Were you during that period concerned that she might remove you and then, with the guardrails, have you looked at the details of what she's proposing? And do you worry that it might limit your power?

Mayor Adams: No, I peeled them apart. Well, two no's. No, I wasn't concerned about being removed because I knew I did nothing wrong. And you have to, all of you have to ask yourselves that there was this call from a lot of people who are running for office and some others on the fringes and many who have criticized our policies for years, remove them, remove them. Why? I mean, did anyone ask the question, why?

I mean, like what was he, was he convicted? Was he convicted of something? Did he, did he do something new? Like what was the reason? If you were to ask people why? Well, because we believe he may be under this or under that. That is not how you circumvent the power of the people who elected me based on your perception and belief. No one can say, when I spoke to some of my colleagues, I was like, why are you calling for this? Like, what is the reason?

Well, because they're just, they're putting forward the possibility of dismissing your charges. That's a reason to take away the mayor of the largest city in America? If that's the standard, we are all in trouble. If you can bypass the will of the people based on what people don't like of an action, that's not democracy.

And it's amazing those who call themselves so Democratic is leading the charge that a mayor that wasn't convicted of anything, a mayor that was doing the job, moving the city forward. It's not like we failed in moving the city forward. They are saying we need to remove him. But why? And then those who are calling are going to take my spot. Come on.

[Crosstalk.]

Question: So can I just clarify, I want to make sure I heard your answer today. I think it was the first question. Yes. Did you say you are having discussions about the possibility of accusing yourself from immigration matters? And if that's the case, do you feel that the Justice Department would still have reason to hold off on the charges? Because they've said that the charges in part are keeping you from being able to carry out their immigration agenda. That's my first question.

Mayor Adams: Yeah, the first question. No, I did not say that. I stated that the team are looking at everything we can to continue to govern the city. And whatever conversation I have with our council, I don't go into private conversations to do so. I answered that already.

Question: And then the other, I guess the other question would just be, you sort of touched on this before I was going to ask it. But I think some people are wondering why you were so much more vocal criticizing President Biden than you are now, even when President Trump seems to do things that, knowing you as long as we do, even though some of the things you're saying are totally consistent and you've said them before, there are some times where you've opted to pull punches against Trump.

Mayor Adams: One day, I want to meet some people, you know, because that's like this fictitious group of people that I never bumped into on the street, you know, some people. Ten months, ten trips to Washington, I did to sit down with the previous administration. Ten trips and constantly told them how important it is. On one of those trips, I was told that this is like a gallstone. It's going to hurt, but it'll pass. I said, well, maybe you want to pass it.

You know, so ten trips, you know, ten trips. And so after ten trips, after watching thousands of people come in here, I was consistent. And so it didn't make a difference to me if the president was Democrat or Republican. I was fighting for New Yorkers. And I said to you previously, we put up a chart. Many of you don't realize the long-term impact of losing seven billion dollars. The long-term impact is going to impact this city for generations to come. For generations to come. And what many of you, I will hope, is to say, you're voicing your advocacy now.

Where were you when we were getting 4,000 migrants and asylum seekers to the city a week? Where were they? I couldn't get them to join me at a press conference. I couldn't get them to take a trip to Washington DC with me. Where were they? And now they have found their voices. That's just, we got to ask you, just as you ask me these tough questions, we have to ask them the same tough questions. Where were you under the previous administration when we lost seven billion dollars? And the citywide electors asking for money, for, we were asking for work authorization. We asked them to join us. They were not there. The speaker and public advocate even agreed to stand with us. But the comptroller decided he wasn't going to do that. Like, we can't have amnesia. While we were going through a crisis under the previous administration, these leaders were not here. And we called them on them over and over again. You need to be standing with us to fight what the previous administration did.

Question: A couple questions. First, just to clarify what you've been saying about this 80 million dollar, you know, seizure. Do you view that as illegal or are you saying it's in some way comparable to something the previous administration did?

And my second question, in terms of some of the sort of rhetoric we've been hearing from your legal team these last few weeks, I know you've been very clear since your indictment that, you know, you say you're staying focused, that the city's business is continuing on as usual. But your lawyers have really been saying, it feels like close to the opposite, that they say, you know, these charges need to be dropped because they are so badly interfering with the mayor's work.

A letter was unsealed a few days ago that Alex Spiro had sent to the Justice Department where he said, the mayor's political partners are hesitant to continue working with him. It's difficult to retain talented staff, business and community leaders are reluctant to engage with City Hall. So which is it? Are you staying focused and continuing to work or are things different?

Mayor Adams: And that's a very fair question. Carrying out your job, you have to still do it, but it doesn't mean if there are issues in the way, it doesn't make it more challenging. Like, I still have to keep us safe, but not being able to coordinate with my federal partners and have the security clearance for sensitive information impacts. And so, yes, we've done it. We were able to do the housing. We were able to get City of Yes. We were able to get our partners to get our budgets passed. Yes, we've done that, but don't believe it wasn't hard. It is easier to do your job without these issues in the way. So yes, it was hard, but we got it done in spite of it, not because of it.

Question: Sorry, the first question, $80 million. Do you view that as illegal or is it somehow comparable to something?

Mayor Adams: I think that we earned the money. We went through a reimbursement system and that the Corp Counsel is putting in place a lawsuit to put our arguments in the court. And I don't want to jeopardize the terminologies or what my opinion is on it. Let the Corp Counsel do their job and make that determination. I believe we deserve that $80 million.

Question: Petitioning starts this week. Can you say definitively, you know that you don't want to step down, you won't resign, but can you say definitively without question that you are going to run for re-election? That's the first question. And then the second question, different topic, is back in December, you said the Corp Counsel was going to be reviewing sanctuary city laws and determining what exactly you could do to change it. What's the status of that and what will be the proposal? Are we going to see one? And have you talked to Tom Homan that the boarders are about that proposal?

Mayor Adams: First, yes, I'm running. Petitions will be in the streets. So please, if you see one with my name on it, please sign it. Any conversations around policies that we're going to roll out, when it's time to announce it, we will announce it. I'm not going to get ahead of the Corp Counsel.

Question: I found your comment you were saying about how the case has impeded your ability to work with federal authorities on various matters because of the security clearance. Can you tell us any more about that? What is it that you haven't been able to do?

Mayor Adams: That's best to speak with my counsel, Alex Spiro.

Question: I wanted to talk about this consistent message that you were talking about. And I know one of the things you talked about very early on was getting undocumented immigrants work permits. And I was wondering, are you going to still push that message with the Trump administration? And have you been able, are you confident that they can make some headway on this? You know, many industries, especially in New York City, rely on immigrant labor and this would be very beneficial to the city's economy.

Mayor Adams: I agree with you. We fought when others were silent. We fought for TPS. We organized with the unions. We organized with the private industry. We thought it was important and you're right. Our economy depends on those workers. And so we're going to continue to advocate for that.

Question: Hi Mayor Adams, two questions. The first is actually relating to your campaign. When can we see a website? Are you reopening your campaign Twitter account? Because there hasn't been much action on that front.

My second question is, you repeatedly say that you've done nothing wrong, yet at least seven career prosecutors resigned rather than drop the case against you because they said it would be unethical to do so. It sends a message that they believe the case against you was so strong, they're willing to lose their jobs instead of just dropping it.

Can you, how should the public square that? Because I think they see these high profile resignations. And for someone to quit their job in this economy, they must feel very strongly in the case against you. So how should the public view the actions that they've taken?

Mayor Adams: Well, first of all, I disagree with you. I'm seeing people quit jobs all over for whatever number of reasons. Right, right. Exactly. You know, a couple of people in the news industry as well, since they're not still getting the money from USAID, you know, so I don't either. So speak with Alex, my attorney. He'll answer that question for you.

Question: Do you want to answer about the campaign we haven't seen?

Mayor Adams: Yeah. My campaign team is going to be doing so. I'm not going into campaign issues. But trust me, you want to see a website out, petitions in the street.

Question: Last week, the Department of Investigation released a report about how your former public advisor, safety advisor, Tim Pearson, and it said that he shoved a male security officer, shoved a female security officer, Sergeant Chell, and then two guards, got the two guards arrested. So I was curious, what's your reaction to the report? And now that the report is out, do you feel like Pearson should not have been given so much power in City Hall, given that he appears to have used it?

Mayor Adams: I'm sorry, say this last part again.

Question: The questions? What's your reaction to the report? And now that the report is out, do you feel like Pearson should not have been given so much power in City Hall, given that he appears to have used it?

Mayor Adams: I've said it before and I'm going to say it again. I know Tim to be an optimal professional. He's no longer with the administration. We're going to review the report.

Question: Just a quick follow-up here on the executive order. Considering it's being done, or looked at at least, to have Rikers, or excuse me, ICE at Rikers with the Corporation Counsel, is that something that City Hall is involved in? Is the Speaker involved in talks about how to change this? And then a follow-up with the Roosevelt Hotel closing.

Is there a contingency plan in case there are like an increased number of migrants arriving in the city? Or are you confident there's not going to be what we saw earlier with 4,000 arriving a day with the Trump administration?

Mayor Adams: My counsel here communicates with the Corp Counsel and she's going to continue to do that. But the Corp Counsel is handling that and my counsel is coordinating with them whatever way is necessary.

We're hoping that the items that this administration is putting in place at the borders, we're hoping that it would have a major impact to slow the flow because no cities should have to handle this. Chicago, Denver, you know, you're looking at Boston, New York, Washington, Houston. We should not have to carry a federal problem and the American people spoke loudly and clearly that we need to fix our border and fix our immigration problem.

Question: To the other next question, it sounded like you were basically saying that it's been more difficult, but you've basically been able to continue to do your job for New Yorkers and your ability to govern and keep people safe hasn't been impacted. So I just wanted to make sure the lives of New Yorkers have not been endangered in any way over this period of time by your security clearance or any other aspect of the prosecution.

Mayor Adams: I want to be real clear on this that I will never do anything that's going to endanger the lives of New Yorkers, but it has been hard. It has been hard. And when it comes down to public safety, when it comes down to federal coordination, when it comes down to addressing all of the threats that the city must deal with, we shouldn't do anything that is unnecessarily hard. And that is where we were, you know, but let's be clear, crime is down, jobs are up. This is the safest big city in America and we shouldn't do anything that's going to impede on that.

Question: I have two quick questions. Brad Lander recently did an interview where he said that New Yorkers need an honest and effective mayor who's working for a more affordable city. Do you have a response to his statement?

Mayor Adams: No.

Question: Under your socials on Twitter–

Mayor Adams: I'm sorry, you said Twitter?

Question: Yeah. My second question is, under your socials on Twitter, there's been a lack of support for the Palestinian community in New York. Will you continue this during your reelection?

Mayor Adams: You know, I find it, you know, troubling that those who have been silent on Muslims, Palestinian, and other issues are now finding their voice. If you go back almost 20 years, in 2021, 2001, I'm sorry, when a large number of those from the Muslim community, from Pakistan in general, was being removed off of Coney Island Avenue, I stood with them.

When there were fights in the Senate where Greg Ball and his Islamophobia posture, I stood loud with the Muslim community. There's been a history of my representation and support, not only for the Palestinian community specifically, but for the Muslim community. And so, those people who want to create about, wants to create the new narrative of who I am, I know who I am.

And the beauty is, there's just this rich body of data that shows my consistency, you know? I mean, the rich body of data of fighting on behalf of people, it's just out there. All one has to do is go look at it. I can't recreate my past. My past is there, it's well-documented. When others were silent, I stood up. I stood up for just about every group in this city during difficult times.

And so, tweeting about Islamophobia acts multiple times this weekend. We've done that. But more importantly, we stood up for the communities. But what I'm not going to do, I'm not going to celebrate a terrorist leader that has brought destruction. I'm not going to do that. And so my Palestinian brothers and sisters, Pakistani and Jewish brothers and sisters, Sikh, Christian brothers and sisters, my record is clear. It's a solid, solid record that I don't think a lot of people that are on the political stage right now could stand up to.