CITY HALL BUREAU-This morning members of the New York City Council Common Sense Caucus, made up primarily of Republican members, met with Tom Homan, the director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement to complain about Mayor Adams not doing enough to deport what they described as "criminal" immigrants.
"We told Tom Homan, the border czar that the Mayor has said he would do certain things and he hasn't done them yet and most importantly, the Common Sense Caucus feels (we need to) get the criminals off of the streets, get them out of our city, get them out of our country," Council Member Robert Holden (D-Queens) told reporters. "It's not happening at a pace that obviously the president would like to see and certainly Tom Homan would like to see."
Holden said the Common Sense Caucus had wanted Mayor Adams to resort to the use of executive orders to help the Trump deportation strategy.
Earlier this week, the Department of Justice moved to suspend the criminal prosecution of Mayor Adams on federal corruption charges until after the upcoming Mayoral election and a full review of the charges by the incoming U.S. Attorney for the Southern District.
In the DOJ letter it also asserted that the criminal prosecution of Adams had "unduly restricted" the Mayor's "ability to devote full attention and resources to the illegal immigration and violent crime that escalated under the policies of the prior administration."
During City Council Speaker Adams press briefing today she blasted the DOJ’s interference in Mayor Adams corruption case which she described as and example of the kind of “lawlessness” she believes President Trump exhibited when he pardoned Jan. 6 rioters who assaulted police and attempted to disrupt the 2020 certification of President Biden.
Speaker Adams also called “deplorable” the federal government’s clawing back of $80 million of FEMA funds from the city’s bank account to help house the 200,000 plus migrants that were mostly bussed here by Gov. Gregg Abbott. Adams noted the funds were appropriated by the Congress.
The unprecedented federal move comes as the city embarks on its annual budget deliberations. About 10 percent of the city’s budget comes from Washington.
