Mayor Eric Adams said he does not oppose federal immigration agents wearing masks during operations in New York City, calling it a matter of officer safety, as the city braces for a surge in enforcement by federal agents.
“If federal agents are wearing masks and face coverings, that may be part of their practices on keeping their agents safe,” Adams said in an interview with amNewYork on Tuesday. “I’m not going to go against what methodologies are used to keep your agents safe, particularly with some of the people they come in contact with, like … extremely dangerous gangs.”
Adams’ comments come just days after Todd Lyons, the acting head of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), said he would continue to permit agents to wear masks.
“I’m not a proponent of the masks. However, if that’s a tool that the men and women of ICE to keep themselves and their family safe, then I will allow it,” Lyons told CBS’s Face the Nation.
Critics of the practice argue that masked and often unidentifiable agents contribute to fear in immigrant communities and weaken public accountability, particularly during the arrests of those attending routine court hearings.
In response, lawmakers at both the state and federal levels have introduced legislation to limit immigration agents’ use of face coverings.
On Monday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Border Czar Tom Homan announced plans to “flood the zone” in New York City with additional ICE and Customs and Border Protection agents.
The move follows the weekend shooting of an off-duty border patrol agent in Fort Washington Park, which federal officials blamed on the city’s sanctuary policies.
Authorities say the alleged shooter, 21-year-old Miguel Mora, is an undocumented immigrant from the Dominican Republic who entered the country illegally in 2023 and had prior arrests and a deportation order.
“When I look at what Mayor Adams has done to New York City, it breaks my heart to see the families that have suffered because of his policies,” Noem said.
Adams blames the criminal justice laws for Border Patrol agent shooting and other crimes
Adams, in turn, blamed the state’s criminal justice laws for allowing repeat offenders to remain on the streets. “I have nothing to do with the rules that are put in place. I just carry out the rules,” he said.
“I’m hearing a lot of people are concerned about what the border czar said. I’m not hearing they’re concerned about a repeated offender who committed an extremely violent act on an innocent New Yorker,” Adams added. “He didn’t know he was a Customs Border Patrol agent. He could have been an off-duty cook, a dishwasher, a teacher — they shot him.”
“We have a broken-door criminal justice system that allowed the person repeatedly to go through that system that Andrew Cuomo created in the bail reform,” he said, invoking the name of one of his opponents in the 2025 NYC Mayor’s race.
Working with ICE on criminal, not civil, deportations
Adams said the city does not cooperate with ICE on deportations but does work with federal law enforcement to dismantle violent gangs.
“When it comes to deportation warrants, the city is not allowed, based on law, to coordinate with ICE on those, and we’re not going to break the law,” the mayor said. “But we do coordinate to take down dangerous gangs, and we have. These dangerous gangs are not only preying on documented New Yorkers, they’re preying on undocumented [people].”
Asked if the city would take further steps to protect asylum seekers with no criminal records who may be swept up in the anticipated ICE surge, Adams emphasized that the issue is outside his purview.
“I don’t handle federal immigration enforcement, and I don’t handle the rules for federal authorities to operate under,” he said. “Whatever practices they implement for safety, I respect it.”
He added that enforcement should focus on criminal activity, not immigration status. “We should not go after hard-working undocumented or immigrants in the city,” Adams said. “I think that’s the wrong thing to do.”
Adams also defended the city’s record on legal aid for immigrants, saying his administration had committed “millions of dollars to assist in legal services for immigrants.”
“During the 237,000 migrants and asylum seekers that came to our city, over 112,000 went through our free legal clinics to give them the next step on their journey,” he said.
The Donlon lawsuit
Meanwhile, Adams has faced a wave of legal scrutiny in recent weeks, with five lawsuits alleging corruption within the NYPD during his tenure. The latest suit came from former interim NYPD Commissioner Tom Donlon, who accused Adams and senior police leaders of using the department as a racketeering enterprise.
Adams and former Deputy Commissioner Tarik Sheppard have dismissed Donlon’s allegations, calling him a “disgruntled” former employee fired over signs of cognitive decline.
Donlon, who later served as a public safety advisor in City Hall, has filed a $10 million defamation lawsuit. His attorney, John Scola, questioned why Adams would have appointed Donlon to a senior role if he believed the former commissioner was experiencing mental decline.
Asked about that contradiction, Adams declined to clarify. “Well, one thing you learn from your attorneys — when the case is in the court, let it play out in the court and not in the press,” he said.
“If you read the 200-something-page misspelled, grammatically incorrect, missing spaces document, I’m surprised that anyone would hire this guy [Scola] as an attorney,” Adams added. “He’s an embarrassment to the legal profession in my opinion.”
Adams also stood by Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch’s decision to allow Lt. Jonathan Rivera to remain on the force following the fatal shooting of Allan Feliz during a 2019 traffic stop.
Civil rights advocates, elected officials, and the Feliz family have called upon the Commissioner to adopt the findings of Deputy Commissioner of Trials Rosemarie Maldonado, who found earlier this year that Lieutenant Jonathan Rivera used excessive force and gave misleading testimony during a departmental trial.
“When those officers [are] out there, unsure where his partner is located — I could not imagine that officer learning later that his colleague was under the car and he did not take action,” Adams said.
“So it was a tough decision. The commissioner evaluated all the facts and she made a determination,” he added.
