On the same day Mayor Eric Adams insisted he isn’t going anywhere, scores of protesters marched in Lower Manhattan Sunday demanding that Gov. Kathy Hochul use her executive power to remove the embattled mayor from power.
Some 200 demonstrators from a coalition of activist groups — including Food & Water Watch, New York Communities for Change, Make the Road New York, Rise and Resist, and Jews For Racial and Economic Justice — gathered for the rally on a rainy Feb. 16 under the arch next to the David N. Dinkins Manhattan Municipal Building. They joined the calls of a growing number of Democratic political leaders who have been pressuring Hochul to give Adams the boot after President Trump’s Justice Department filed a motion to dismiss the five-count criminal indictment against Hizzoner “without prejudice,” fearing that he would do Trump’s bidding in exchange for dropping the charges.
The cooperation, Democratic leaders and activists fear, will result in the mass deportation of New Yorkers and their families. Alícia Nascimento, political director for New York Communities for Change, explained to the press that the organization held the emergency rally because they believed Adams was being “held hostage” by President Trump.
“The Mayor essentially has a quid pro quo with the President that if he were able to dismiss the corruption charges, which he never went to trial [for],” Nascimento said, “then ICE would have reign over our city, and the federal government would be able to do whatever it wanted in a sanctuary city.”
Protesters questioned Mayor Adams’ ability to lead the largest city in the country, especially after U.S. Attorney Danielle Sassoon of the Southern District of New York (SDNY) resigned and, in an eight-page letter, accused the mayor’s attorney’s of offering a “quid pro quo” to the Trump Justice Department, promising cooperation on the immigration crackdown in exchange for dropping the charges.
While Adams insists he did nothing wrong and denies cutting a deal with the White House to have the case dropped, just last Friday, Adams appeared alongside Tom Homan, Trump’s border czar, in a live interview on FOX & Friends. Homan warned that he would be “up [Adams] butt” if he didn’t comply with Trump’s immigration crackdown.
At a meeting between the pair a day prior, Adams promised Homan he would allow Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to operate on Rikers Island. Two weeks ago, Mayor Adams issued a memo to migrant shelter contractors, schools, and hospitals, stating that if employees felt threatened, they could allow agents of the U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement to enter migrant shelters without a judicial warrant — which would amount to a violation of New York City’s Sanctuary Laws.
Before the crowd of about 200 marched to the United States Federal Court House on Sunday, Assemblymember Harvey Epstein (D-Manhattan) pointed out that New York City immigrants are afraid to send their children to school or go to the hospital because of the memo the Mayor issued a few weeks ago.
“That is not the New York we believe in. The mayor has to leave, and if he doesn’t decide to resign, he must be removed from office. That is our message, loud and clear,” Epstein declared.
Queens Assembly member and Democratic socialist candidate for mayor Zohran Mamdani said that Adams was a “walking emergency.”
“That is why I am calling on Governor Hochul to remove Mayor Adams from office immediately. Every single day that we let Mayor Adams sit in City Hall is another day that he could give up New York City to Donald Trump,” Mamdani said.
Along with ousting Adams, demonstrators further demanded that Hochul sign The New York for All Act, introduced by Brooklyn state Sen. Andrew Gounardes and Bronx Assembly Member Karines Reyes. The legislation, S.2235/A3506, would prohibit New York’s state and local government agencies, including police and sheriffs, from colluding with ICE, disclosing sensitive information, and diverting personnel or other resources to further federal immigration.
Currently, only New York City and Westchester County have sanctuary laws within the Empire State.
