The Trump administration has not held back from attacking New York Mayor Eric Adams after an illegal immigrant injured a federal law enforcement agent in his city, marking a sharp break from its previous praise for the Democratic leader.
The Department of Homeland Security blamed New York’s long-standing sanctuary policies after a suspect in the country illegally with a lengthy criminal record was accused of shooting an off-duty Border Patrol agent during an attempted robbery Saturday.
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Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem blamed Adams for “the sanctuary policies in New York City [that] make the streets more and more dangerous every single day” during a Fox News interview on Wednesday.
Earlier this week, she reiterated the fiery attacks, even though the Trump administration had previously signaled it favored Adams for reelection ahead of the November mayoral election over candidates Andrew Cuomo and Zohran Mamdani.
“Make no mistake: This officer is in the hospital today fighting for his life because of the policies of the mayor of the city and the City Council, and the people that were in charge of keeping the public safe refused to do so,” Noem said during a press briefing Monday. “When I look at what Mayor Adams has done to New York City, it breaks my heart to see the families that have suffered because of his policies.”
Her words represent a marked change from the Trump administration’s burgeoning relationship with the mayor in recent months. The criticism from the White House comes at a particularly vulnerable time for Adams, who is fighting heavy odds, a crowded race, and dismal polling to win another term in City Hall.
The mayor has fought to fend off Noem’s anger, arguing that only the City Council has the power to fully repeal the sanctuary policies and pointing the finger at Cuomo. The former governor, now one of Adams’s rivals in the mayoral race, signed off on bail reforms in 2019 that created a “revolving door” in the criminal justice system, allowing criminals to roam the streets, the mayor said.
“You know how outraged I am because of Andrew’s bail reform laws on how we have this revolving-door criminal justice system,” Adams said. “I am extremely angry that we have a … Border Patrol officer that is in the hospital because a person that should have not been on our street was on our street.”
“I’m very clear, always have been clear: Stop the revolving-door system,” he continued this week. “Go after the dangerous migrants and asylum-seekers who are here and allow hardworking people who are in this city to go on with their lives as they go through the process.”
Adams sought to allow Immigration and Customs Enforcement expanded access to New York City’s jails earlier this year but was blocked by the courts.
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A judge blocked him from doing so due to accusations that Adams engaged in a “quid pro quo” with the White House, with his Rikers Island announcement coming days after President Donald Trump’s Justice Department dropped the corruption case against him.
For years, Adams has cozied up to Republicans on matters of immigration, particularly after his city experienced a surge of illegal immigrants during Biden-era relaxed border policies.