While New York City Mayor Eric Adams indicated that some of the city’s provisions under its longtime status as a sanctuary city should be reexamined, he additionally has a new liking to Trump, perhaps because he is hoping for a pardon as he stares down a federal indictment, or because he is truly ready to work with the Trump administration on immigration. 

Adams met with Trump in Florida on Friday, and on Monday, he canceled his appearances at local Martin Luther King Jr. Day events to travel to Washington for Trump’s inauguration. He also met with Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, in December. 

“I’m not going to be warring with this administration,” Adams said last month. “I’m going to be working with this administration.”

Adams repeatedly criticized former President Joe Biden’s administration on immigration, saying they had not done enough to aid New York and other cities facing an influx of immigrants. 

Over the summer, Adams, who has continued to refer to New York as a sanctuary city, proposed a rollback of those sanctuary city policies passed under former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio in 2014. Those policies expanded the scope of the city’s sanctuary provisions, signing a series of bills into law that largely prevented the city’s police and jails from helping federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents deport undocumented immigrants.

“I think the previous administration made a big mistake. I think we need to correct that aspect of it,” Adams said. “New Yorkers have a right to be safe in their city. The same way anyone breaks the law or does something violent to New Yorkers, I’m going to voice my concern about that.”

Adams still praised earlier mayors for their sanctuary city policies dating back to former Mayor Ed Koch, but not some of the policies of de Blasio, who Adams has been critical of.

New York City’s sanctuary policies date back to the 1980s, when Koch issued an executive order prohibiting city agencies from sharing information about immigrants with federal authorities unless they were suspected of criminal activity. Despite some back-and-forth with Congress, subsequent mayors have continued to reissue the order as other cities, such as Chicago and Boston, adopted similar policies.

Former Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s administration passed the first local law on the matter, explicitly limiting the New York City Department of Correction’s cooperation with ICE.

During Trump’s first administration, de Blasio quickly emerged as a vocal opponent of Trump’s immigration policies, notably his travel bans on Muslim countries and family separations. He also was frequently at odds against Trump’s efforts to withhold federal funding from sanctuary cities such as New York.

Most of the de Blasio measures Adams wishes to roll back are related to illegal immigrants who may have committed crimes. De Blasio’s policies effectively buffered people from federal scrutiny until they were convicted of major crimes.

“I want to go back to the standards of the previous mayors who I believe subscribe to my belief that people who are suspected of committing serious crimes in this city should be held accountable,” Adams said.

Last month, Adams additionally said migrants accused of crimes should not necessarily receive the due process that he himself is receiving as a defendant in a criminal indictment.

“Americans have certain rights. The Constitution is for Americans, and I’m not a person that snuck into this country,” Adams said.

Even so, the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs has, in recent days, updated its website with several booklets providing guidance for immigrant New Yorkers who may come in contact with federal immigration officers.

Adams spokeswoman Liz Garcia said the mayor “has been clear that New York City will always be a city of immigrants, which is why the Adams administration has worked diligently over the past few months to ensure city staff has the most accurate, up-to-date information on how to uphold our sanctuary city laws.”