Mayor Adams opposes mass deportation but says he will work with Trump on immigration

NEW YORK (PIX11) — Mayor Eric Adams said Tuesday he opposed mass deportation plans by President-elect Donald Trump, but he is willing to work with his incoming administration on immigration.

The comments came during a contentious news conference held as Trump has already named officials pledging to conduct immigration raids in New York and beyond.

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"I am not a supporter of mass deportation," Adams said when asked repeatedly to clarify his position as leader of the largest immigrant city in the country.

Adams made that statement after days of prodding by the press about what exactly he would do.

Trump in the past few days has named one of the country's leading anti-immigration voices Stephen Miller as a deputy chief of staff and named Tom Homan , former ICE director and father of the family separation policy, as "border tsar."

When asked about the selections and what he would say to Trump, Adams said: "My concern is one concern, and we keep tinkering on the edges and having this philosophical concern, but the voters communicated loud and clear, we have a broken immigration system, and it needs to be fixed."

The mayor said he wants his team to meet with incoming Trump officials to discuss immigration solutions.

"We want to get in the room and have one-on-one conversations and give them our view on what we believe what we've gone through, how our insight can assist them in some of the operational planning," Adams said.

"He should not be trying to think of how he can work and collude with ICE," said Murad Awawdeh, president of the New York Immigration Coalition. "He should be trying to protect our immigrant families who have called this place home for years."

Awawdeh said his and other groups are already educating immigrants about their rights and preparing for the worst, including the possibility that residents with legal status or American citizens will get caught up in deportation sweeps.

"We will have to wait and see if the mayor will be an ally for our communities," he said. "I think the mayor has spoken out of both sides of his mouth since the election has happened."

Adams did stress, as he has in the past, that his administration will follow the "sanctuary city laws," which encourage undocumented people to go to school, use hospitals and cooperate with police by blocking any and all cooperation with federal immigration authorities.

However, the mayor does want to see a change to that law to allow cooperation in the case of criminal activity by someone who is undocumented.