Transcript: Mayor Adams Appears Live On “CBS 2 News At 5pm”

February 28, 2024

Maurice DuBois: And Mayor Adams is joining us right now. Mr. Mayor, thanks for being with us, getting on the record here tonight. Let's start with the city sanctuary policy. You say you want to change it, not necessarily specifically here, but do you say you want to get ICE involved to help deport migrants suspected of crimes or at least look into their backgrounds? Advocates, as you know, are talking about due process. What about that?

 Mayor Eric Adams: And listen, I'm clear on due process. I believe in due process. Let's never get away from the fact that I served for 22 years as a police officer, and there is a process. The police have a job, the courts have a job, and the federal government has a job.

My role is very clear. People who commit repeated violent crimes in our city. For many years, you were allowed to collaborate with ICE. Under the former administration, that changed. We need to ensure that dangerous people don't remain on the street, and it doesn't matter if they're migrants and asylum seekers or if they're long‑term New Yorkers. This city must be safe, we deserve to be safe and I believe that wholeheartedly.

DuBois: Are you looking to take executive action to make that happen, because as you know the Council is not having it?

Mayor Adams: Well, the Council, I mean, that's why we have this system of government. The Council, actually, they would put forth the bill. They say they don't want to put forth the bill. I'm restricted from being able to do so. It's clear that this was a law that was passed under the previous administration, and in order to change that, they would have to make that determination.

I have the obligation to say to New Yorkers that people who are dangerous… The overwhelming number of migrants and asylum seekers who are here, they are doing the right thing. Some of them are being preyed on by violent migrants. As we saw, we saw a stabbing inside one of our HERRCs. We can't allow dangerous people to create an environment that New Yorkers are unsafe and those who are new arrivals here.

Kristine Johnson: On the topic of migrants, mayor, troubling headline yesterday in Queens, 70 migrants living in the basement of a furniture store there. And in tears, the building owner says that they came to him for help after their 30‑day shelter stay expired. Here's a reminder of what he said.

[Video plays.]

Ebou Sarr: To landlords, people were saying that these buildings is for the city. And the city is saying that they don't have no place for these people? It's not true.

[Video ends.]

Johnson: So, mayor, and now within the past half an hour here, we learned that the FDNY found another home, this one in the Bronx, with 45 beds housing migrants. It appears that this 30‑day shelter rule here has created a whole new problem. How will this be addressed?

Mayor Adams: No, I don't think so. And again, from my understanding, he was charging a person $300 a night for each person. So, I don't know if this was benevolence or it was a benefit that he was trying to obtain; and, we believe it's the same person that has a location in the Bronx.

People exploit those who are in need. Over 100,000 people who have come through our system that had the 30‑day and 60‑day notice, over 100,000 have found their next step on the journey. We've had 170‑something thousand people that have come into our city, and we have been extremely clear: we need to allow people to take the next step. Those who exploit innocent people must be held accountable.

Johnson: But there's a clear need here. There are people that are staying in this housing because they have nowhere else to go.

Mayor Adams: No, that's not true. After you hit your 30‑day, you come back, you have to go through the system. You're reevaluated, you'll receive intensive support of how to be self‑sustaining. We have no child or family sleeping on the streets of the City of New York because of the humane process that we have put in place.

Johnson: But isn't there an eight‑day gap, Mayor, that they are then allowed to reapply? Isn't there an eight‑day gap there?

Mayor Adams: And we still have places for people even with that eight‑day gap. There's still places that you could come until we process you and get through.

Let me tell you what's really inhumane is what's happening on a federal level. New York City didn't create this crisis. Not only is it a financial burden, but it is also a burden to the quality of life. I was in Harlem today walking through the migrant center and the HERRC. People should not live in this manner. Our focus needs to be on Washington D.C. to resolve this crisis.

Johnson: You know I'm thinking back at these past few months that all of this has all started when Governor Abbott sent the first bus here filled with migrants. And I'm curious if your take on the city being a sanctuary city has changed from that time until today. Do you still have the same view?

Mayor Adams: Help me understand that question more. Do I still have the same view? I'm a supporter of sanctuary city. This is a city, an initiative that was put in place under Mayor Koch, continued under Mayor Bloomberg. This is a city of immigrants, and I'm a proud supporter of our immigrant population.

What I don't support is people who exploit and are violent and our city. New Yorkers deserve better, migrants and immigrants deserve better. No one should be the victim of violent crimes. If you do so, after you serve your time, you should be removed from our city.

DuBois: Okay, Mr. Mayor, let's move on to subway crime here. The governor says you have not asked the state for more money for transit cops for the subway. Is that so? Is this a priority, and do you plan to ask for more money?

Mayor Adams: It is a priority, and our team has been communicating with the governor's office who has been a real partner around this. She was with us with the Subway Safety Plan, and our team has communicated. My first deputy mayor has communicated with her staff.

It probably has not been elevated to her yet. We put 1,000 new officers in the system, in the subway system. We seem to be seeing some good results. We witnessed a decrease of crime thus far. But we want to ensure that our subway system is safe and we're going to continue to pursue that.

Johnson: Mayor, real quick. Speaking of safety on the subways, there were some colorful comments made here in the past couple of days about some new subway stanchions that were installed at some of the stations to keep conductors safe. I do believe that we have some video here of what those stanchions look like. But some city residents here were saying, you know, what are these stanchions, what are they really good for, and how are they really going to protect the conductors. Just curious if you had a take on this.

Mayor Adams: Well, first of all, I must have said this a million times: we have 8.3 million residents, we have 35 million opinions. New Yorkers are opinionated. I don't care what you put in place, trust me, no matter what you put in place you're going to have a New Yorker that's going to give you good memes or tell you why we shouldn't do it. That's the beauty of New York, you know? That is why we're so unique and that's why we're the greatest place to live on the globe.

DuBois: Mr. Mayor, one more thing. I've been asking you and other officials about this for years: bike mayhem in the city, it's crazy out here. Bikes are going every which way. Someone's going to get hurt or worse. When are you going to start cracking down on that?

Mayor Adams: Maurice, you're… I hear it at every town hall it comes up. Did you know we removed over 50,000 bikes? Illegal bikes, mopeds, illegal vehicles. Over 50,000. Remember how it used to be in the summertime when you see illegal motorcycles up and down our block, running up and down the blocks? We are focusing in on that. We continue to zero in on that.

And part of the problem is that we see a massive increase in deliveries. People are no longer going out as much, and so they should hold some of those restaurants accountable. It's going to take an all hands on deck. But we have removed over 50,000 illegal mopeds, bikes, scooters and vehicles with paper plates in the city.

DuBois: Well, we're out of time here. We could talk about this for a long time, Mr. Mayor. But thank you for your insight tonight. We appreciate it.

Johnson: Appreciate it, Mayor.

Mayor Adams: Good to see both of you. Take care.

DuBois: And maybe 50,000 more bikes coming up.

Johnson: I think so. Thank you, Mayor.

DuBois: All right.

Johnson: As always, it's a pleasure.

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