FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, February 27, 2025
Contact:
Yonah Zeitz, yonah@katalcenter.org | (347) 201-2769
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As Adams Sells Out New Yorkers to Trump, Elected Officials and Community Groups Rally at City Hall to Demand “Spineless Kathy” Hochul Remove Adams
Immigrant New Yorkers Are Under Attack as Adams Attempts to Skirt NYC’s Sanctuary Laws By Collaborating with ICE and Criminalizing Immigrants
New York, NY: Today, prior to the City Council Stated Meeting, community groups and elected officials gathered in Foley Square and then marched to City Hall to demand Governor Hochul remove Mayor Adams from office.
The shameless move by Mayor Adams to target immigrants in a quid pro quo with President Trump to get his corruption charges dropped is callous and dangerous. Throwing immigrants under the bus to benefit himself goes against the values and morals we hold as New Yorkers. That is why a growing number of elected officials and organizations have joined in calling for Governor Hochul to protect New Yorkers by removing Adams and standing up to Trump. We cannot go backward and let ICE operate at Rikers or anywhere in the city to target and further criminalize immigrants.
New Yorkers deserve a mayor committed to defending New Yorkers and protecting immigrants. Hochul must grow a backbone and take immediate action!
Statements from Elected Officials and Community Groups:
Councilmember Alexa Avilés, said: “Our mayor has shown no interest in upholding the will of the people. Instead, he has shown time and time again that he only wants to use his elected position for his own personal benefit. In the process, he has put working-class New Yorkers in harm’s way—deeply rooting corruption in our public institutions, threatening the safety of our immigrant communities, defunding crucial city services, creating avenues for real estate developers to heinously exploit their tenants, and beyond. No one should be able to hold the office of a public servant when they are only willing to serve themselves. The governor must remove Eric Adams from office before he wreaks more destruction on our city. I’m proud to be standing alongside so many working New Yorkers calling for a future that serves us, not our elite and ultra-wealthy leaders.”
Council Member Sandy Nurse, said: “For a self-proclaimed law and order Mayor, Eric Adams has been enmeshed in scandals that have put our communities in a compromised position. At a time of heightened anxieties and threats, we need a leader who is laser-focused on tackling our most pressing challenges and getting to the heart of what vulnerable communities need to feel safe. The Mayor should be working to meet the 2027 deadline to shut down Rikers, not allowing the Trump administration to reign over our City and restart ICE operations. Instead, he is selling out New Yorkers in pursuit of his own salvation. As I said months ago, Adams should resign for the sake of our City.”
Eugene Mccabe, a Member of the Katal Center for Equity, Health, and Justice, said: “The alignment between Mayor Adams and President Trump puts all of our communities in harm’s way. It is clear that Mayor Adams is only looking out for himself and is not concerned about the well-being of everyday New Yorkers. Communities across the city are already living in a state of fear from the heightened level of surveillance and over-policing. Unfortunately, I foresee more money being put into the NYPD to carry out their tactics of intimidation and criminalization of immigrant, Black, brown, and low-income New Yorkers. This will continue to drive up the city’s jail population, which has skyrocketed under the Adams administration and moves us further away from closing Rikers. We cannot go backward and let ICE operate in the city’s local jails to target and further criminalize immigrants. Under Adams, conditions at Rikers have worsened, and two people died in city jails in the last week — at least 35 people have died in DOC custody since Adams took office. This is unacceptable! Governor Hochul must remove Mayor Eric Adams from office. Lives are at stake. NYC needs a mayor who will protect all New Yorkers and shut down Rikers.”
Tuulikki Robertson, Executive Director of The Black Institute, said: “New Yorkers deserve real leadership—not a mayor who prioritizes his own political survival over the needs of the people. It is time for Governor Kathy Hochul to take action and remove Eric Adams from office. Governor Hochul, you stepped up to lead—now it’s time to act. The people of New York deserve better, and you know it. Stop hiding.
If Adams wants to serve the Trump administration, he’s already well-prepared with their talking points. With only 5% support in NYC, he does not represent us. The people of New York deserve better.”
James Inniss, Public Safety Organizer at New York Communities for Change, said: “We have Donald Trump back in the White House anointing himself the ‘king’, holding the mayor hostage and Democrats just shrug in response. They are weak and pathetic. We’ve been thrown to the wolves by Spineless Kathy Hochul who refuses to stand up to Trump and protect black communities being targeted by ICE. Spineless Kathy wants to pretend that what New York City has is an oversight problem, but we all know the truth.What we have is an Eric Adams problem and he needed to be removed yesterday.”
Jake Levin, Organizer at Jews For Racial & Economic Justice, said: “Eric Adams is unfit to be mayor of New York City. New Yorkers deserve a mayor who is accountable to us, not a mayor beholden to a would-be king in the White House. And New Yorkers need a mayor who won’t sell out our immigrant neighbors so he can get a pass for his own corruption. It’s time for Governor Hochul to stand up to Trump and actually fight for and protect New Yorkers. Hochul is leaving New Yorkers worse off than we were before, with Eric Adams still in office, plus a new power grab. That’s not what we’ve been calling for. What we need is for her to remove Eric Adams.”
Emily Skydel, Senior Organizer for Food and Water Watch, said: “We need Governor Hochul to defend New York against Donald Trump and Elon musk. Right now we are in a situation in which Eric Adams is compromised. He has entered into a quid pro quo with Trump which is putting New York’s immigrant communities in danger of deportation. Already we have seen Governor Hochul caving to Trump’s oil and gas agenda by approving the Iroquois pipeline expansion. Now she is failing to use her executive powers to remove Adams who has become a puppet of Trump. We need spineless Kathy to step it up!”
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