Midtown Tribune

Category: NYC MAYOR

New York. Mayor Eric Adams Honors Haitian Community at Heritage Reception, Calls for Unity and Resilience (Video)

Summary: At a Haitian Heritage Reception on August 22, 2025, Mayor Eric Adams paid tribute to the Haitian community’s history, resilience, and contributions to New York City. He honored security officer Aland Paoli, who was killed while saving lives during a recent shooting, and urged continued action against gun violence. Adams praised Haiti’s legacy of freedom and resilience, highlighting its role in shaping global history and celebrating Haitian New Yorkers’ achievements in business, education, and public service—including NYC Budget Director Jacques Jiha. Stressing his commitment to immigrant support and equity, Adams said unity is key to overcoming challenges, declaring, “From Port-au-Prince to Brooklyn, we still rise.”

Transcript: Mayor Adams Hosts Haitian Heritage Reception

Mayor Eric Adams: Wow, look at this. Look at this crowd. You know, earlier this– a few weeks ago, I was working late and actually it was around six o’clock, we got the call that at 345 Park Avenue, there was a shooting. And in the shooting, when I responded, we learned that four New Yorkers were killed. Later that night, I walked through the building and looked at the tape. And [what] I saw, it was just so heart wrenching. And people talked about losing Officer Islam and other workers.

But I want to talk about our Haitian brother, Aland. We call Aland. What that brother did was unbelievable. And how he tried to save the lives of the people that were in the building. He had that energy of Toussaint. He had that resiliency of this community. And as I watched the sick action of his assassin, and his desire to save the people who were there, it just tore me apart.

And I just want to say as his wife is here, I’m gonna ask her to come on, Rachelle Paoli, if you will come on [stage]. And his beautiful children. I want us to just take a moment, a moment of silence of a life that is worth living because he gave his life to save the lives of others. More people would have been lost in that building if it wasn’t for the courageous actions of the security personnel and our first responding law enforcement.

And when you see a family like this, this is why I am so committed to remove every illegal firearm off our street. And the 23,000 we have removed is just the start of what we need to do. So do something for me. Just raise your hand towards this stage to this family and say silently to yourselves, a word of prayer to lift them up, to give them the hope and the aspiration they need to forge ahead. And just a moment of silence. Thank you so much. Thank you for being here with us.

And so to my Haitian people who are here, I remember going to Haiti a few years ago when I was borough president, you know, I like to believe that Brooklyn is the Port-au-Prince of America. And it was in the middle of a hurricane, and I watched how no matter what is thrown at you, you are so resilient. And America owes you a debt of gratitude because it was due to you whipping Napoleon’s butt that we were able to do the Louisiana Purchase.

But not only that, I think that the councilwomen pointed it out. Because you beat Napoleon so bad, you’re still being held accountable for it. You know, people want to give the impression that this is all by accident. It’s not. Becoming the first Black republic, you pay a price. That’s like the price you pay when you become the second Black mayor.

You know, you will rather live a lifetime in poverty than one day in slavery. And [with] your fighting spirit and fighting energy. And I remember just walking through Port-au-Prince and going up into the mountains and seeing folks just resilient and willing to fight and stand tall. And I remember as a child reading about Toussaint and how he inspired me. He was willing to fight for freedom. And people need to know that. That history has been lost in the conversation.

Don’t be so Yankee-ized that you don’t realize how powerful you are as a country. And it’s significant. One of the highest levels of academic achievements. One of the highest levels in the medical profession. One of the highest levels in starting your own businesses. One of the highest levels of making sure of building institutions.

You have a legacy that is so proud of and we allow people to beat us down so much that we don’t acknowledge how much we have accomplished. You have so much to be proud of. You grace us by being here on Gracie Mansion’s lawn right now. And so we have a lot to do and a lot to accomplish.

And tonight we want to recognize your history, your culture, your contribution that our Haitian brothers and sisters have done from little Haiti and Brooklyn to proud homeowners in Queens. Every place you go, you bring about a level of prosperity and commitment and dedication. So I am proud to be the mayor of the second largest Haitian population in the country. And eventually we’re going to be the first because they’re going to leave Miami and come to New York.

And let me tell you something. We have a $115 billion dollar budget. $115 billion dollars. The largest budget of any city. $115 billion dollars. And you know who controls it? Jacques [Jiha], a Haitian. I don’t spend a dime unless Jacques tells me it’s okay to spend it. And so we need to find our gems within not only city government but the city and that’s what this is all about. Lifting up how we manage crises.

Look at what we manage under Jacques [Jiha]. We manage COVID under Jacques [Jiha]. We manage the migrants and asylum seekers under Jacques [Jiha]. We manage the sunsetting of COVID dollars that left gaping holes under Jacques [Jiha]. We lowered all income tax for low-income New Yorkers under Jacques [Jiha]. Free high-speed broadband under Jacques [Jiha].

Breaking records of building housing in year one, two, and three more than anyone in the recorded history of the city of a mayor under Jacques [Jiha]. More jobs in New York City and the entire history under the city under Jacques [Jiha]. Jacques Jiha. Sorry, Jacques. I’m thinking of Maurice, my mentor. You know, he was another Haitian brother that was there for me.

But Jacques handled his business in this city and he’s going to go down in history as one of the best budget directors the city has ever seen and he is Haitian. And so we’re doing more with our Haitian response initiative, a partnership between the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs and eight Haitian serving nonprofits and CUNY’s Brooklyn College Haitian Students Institute to give resources to provide information to Haitian New Yorkers in your language regardless of their immigration status.

What we’ve done with free legal services, what we’ve done, we’re putting more money in legal services, what we’ve done and all of the issues of uplifting everyone who’s in the city. My obligation as the mayor is not to ask how you got here, but to make sure while you’re here you can provide for your family, provide for your children, receive police support if you need it and get medical attention when it’s required and I’m going to continue to do that.

I didn’t start doing that when I was a mayor. I did it when I was back with 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement, state senator, borough president. I’m going to continue the legacy we started many years ago. And so we know these are uncertain and painful moments. We know that. We know what we’re going through right now and I hear all the time folks. I hear all the time people say these are the most difficult moments.

I want to ask all of you something. When wasn’t it a difficult moment for Black folks? Can somebody tell me the year? Because it was a difficult moment for me when I grew up in South Jamaica, Queens, dyslexic, undiagnosed. It was a difficult moment for me when mommy was working three jobs. It was a difficult moment for me when my sister didn’t have her childhood because she had to raise the five of us.

It was a difficult moment for me when we had to eat that hard [] cheese that came from welfare. It’s always been difficult folks, but you know what? We’ve always survived. Because if we are honest in what we say, God is still in charge. And that is what I believe and no matter what is thrown at me in this administration, we have been able to move this city forward and have been successful in the process.

And in your flag states, unity creates strength. It is a measure that recalls your resiliency through struggles in the past and is a symbol for the future that together we are stronger. So from Port-au-Prince to Brooklyn through tragedy and triumph, we will continue to do as Maya Angelou stated. We will continue to rise. We still rise. Thank you so much.

August 22, 2025

Sources: NYC.gov , Midtown Tribune news

Midtown Tribune Independent USA news from New York

August 23, 2025
NYC to Pay Nonprofits Faster Under New Mayor Adams, Speaker Adams Reform
New York City is rolling out a new pilot program to make sure nonprofits get their money faster. Mayor Eric Adams and City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams announced the Discretionary Grant Pilot, which will launch in fall 2025 and slash the payment process for smaller nonprofits receiving $25,000 or less in City Council funds. The program removes 13 steps from the traditional contract system, cutting wait times for payments nearly in half. About 100 organizations will be included in the first year, with hundreds more expected to join in year two. The change comes during NYC Nonprofit Week and is part of a larger push by the Adams administration to reduce contract delays, boost nonprofit worker wages, and strengthen partnerships with community groups that provide critical services like housing, food, senior care, and immigrant support.

Mayor Adams, Speaker Adams
Announce Bold Contract Reform to Help Nonprofits Get Paid Faster

What you should know
- Discretionary Funding Grant Pilot Will Cut Red Tape and Accelerate Payments to Half the Time of Traditional Contract Process for Small-Dollar Awardees
- New Program Eliminates 13 Steps from Contract Process to Help Nonprofits Receive Funding They Need Without Delay
- Announcement Part of Mayor Adams’ “NYC Nonprofit Week,”
- Highlighting City’s Investments and Support for Nonprofits
NEW YORK – New York City Mayor Eric Adams and New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams today announced a new pilot initiative to accelerate payments for a selection of small-scale discretionary funding awards and streamline the city’s discretionary funding process. Launching in fall 2025, the Discretionary Grant Pilot will replace the traditional contract process with direct grant agreements for approximately 100 organizations receiving $25,000 or less in City Council discretionary dollars during its first year. The grant pilot will eliminate 13 steps, allowing eligible nonprofits to receive 100 percent of their City Council-allocated funds in nearly half the time of the current contracting process. In its second year, the pilot will be extended to hundreds of organizations that qualify. The pilot addresses long-standing inefficiencies that have required small-dollar discretionary awards to undergo the same complex registration process as multi-million-dollar, competitively bid contracts. As a result, many nonprofits have faced delays before being able to register their contract or submit their first invoices for small-dollar funding awards. This initiative comes as Mayor Adams recognizes “NYC Nonprofit Week” and builds on his administration’s progress in reducing the city’s backlog of unregistered contracts — achieving an 88 percent rate of on-time submissions for the registration of standard human service contracts for Fiscal Year (FY) 2026.

“When nonprofits thrive, our city and our people thrive. New York City’s nonprofits do the work millions of our city’s residents rely on — delivering meals to seniors, providing legal services to immigrants, connecting people to housing, caring for our young people, and so much more. In order to ensure that these organizations succeed and continue to support New Yorkers, we need to remove the different barriers and obstacles that stand in the way of their crucial mission,” said Mayor Adams. “The new Discretionary Grant Pilot does just that — revamping the old process and replacing it with a new, streamlined approach to get the money nonprofits need and are owed to them within weeks instead of years. Nonprofits always deliver for New Yorkers, and today, we’re proud to continue delivering for nonprofits.”

“Non-profits provide essential services to New Yorkers through city contracts and funding, but far too often are paid late for their work and forced to shoulder excessive administrative burdens,” said Speaker Adams. “This new Council discretionary grant pilot program, in partnership with Mayor Adams’ administration, will remove excessive barriers to get non-profits their funding faster and with less red tape. The Council is proud to continue our work to ensure that our non-profit sector can successfully deliver New Yorkers the lifesaving care and dignity they deserve.”

Led by the Mayor’s Office of Contract Services (MOCS), the Mayor’s Office of Nonprofit Services (MONS), and the New York City Council, in collaboration with key partner agencies including the New York City Department of Youth & Community Development (DYCD) and the New York City Department for the Aging (NYC Aging), this pilot will significantly reduce bureaucratic hurdles and speed up payments to the city’s nonprofits — delivering on Mayor Adams’ promise to empower organizations that serve on the frontlines of New York City’s neighborhoods.

Under the pilot, eligible nonprofits will receive one-year grant agreements, bypassing the traditional months-long contract registration process. Once agreements are signed and returned, 100 percent of funds will be disbursed to the nonprofits, allowing organizations to serve their communities without delayed payments.

Nonprofits may qualify for the pilot if they:

·         Were awarded a total of $25,000 or less in City Council discretionary dollars in FY 2026; and

·         Are being funded through one of the following agencies:

·         DYCD

·         NYC Aging

·         New York City Department of Veterans’ Services

·         New York City Department of Small Business Services

The City Council, MOCS, and the contracting agency will determine participating organizations to be chosen as the pilot cohort for FY 2026 and notify them of their inclusion in the pilot. Final announcements are expected in October 2025, with grant agreements to be issued shortly thereafter. Participating organizations will have 30 days to return signed agreements and can expect to receive funding by January 2026.

This initiative builds on the Adams administration’s 2023 multi-year discretionary contract reform and has already shown significant progress in getting City Council discretionary providers paid on time.

In March 2024, the administration committed $741 million toward a cost-of-living adjustment for approximately 80,000 human services workers employed by nonprofits with city contracts. This workforce — 66 percent women and 46 percent women of color — plays a critical role in providing frontline services related to housing, health care, food access, and support for asylum seekers. In total, the administration has now directed over $1.4 billion toward wage enhancements in the sector.

In January 2025, Mayor Adams issued Executive Order 47, formally establishing chief nonprofit officers within city agencies to enhance service delivery, respond to nonprofit partners more effectively, and speed up payment processing. To date, 18 chief nonprofit officers have been appointed and are actively collaborating with nonprofits to drive systemic improvements. Finally, Mayor Adams created the city’s first-ever Nonprofit Advisory Council, bringing together leaders from across the sector to collaborate with MONS and strengthen the connection between nonprofit organizations and city government.

August 21, 2025 Manhattan, New York

Sources: NYC.gov , Big New York news BigNY
Midtown Tribune News

Midtown Tribune Independent USA news from New York
August 21, 2025
New York. Mayor Adams and NYPD Commissioner Tisch Announce Hiring of Largest Police Recruit Class in Almost 10 Years
What you should know
- Nearly 1,100 Police Officers in August Recruit Class Marks Largest Hiring During Adams Administration
- NYPD Recruit Applications During Most Recent Exam Skyrocketed 579 Percent Compared to Before Expanded Eligibility Requirements
- Announcement Builds on Administration’s “End the Culture of Anything Goes” Campaign,
- Highlighting Mayor Adams’ Efforts to Change Culture, Laws, and Investments That Improve Quality of Life and Prevent Public Disorder on City Street
NEW YORK – New York City Mayor Eric Adams and New York City Police Department (NYPD) Commissioner Jessica S. Tisch today announced the hiring of nearly 1,100 police officer recruits, marking the largest class of officers sworn in by the NYPD since January 2016. The 1,093-person class also breaks the record for the largest NYPD class hired during the Adams administration, previously broken in January 2025, which consisted of 1,045 NYPD recruits. Including today’s class, already this year, the NYPD has hired 2,911 recruits — the highest number since 2006 — with another class still scheduled for this year. During the totality of the Adams administration, the NYPD has already hired nearly 10,000 NYPD police officers when including today’s recruit class, the 773 recruits sworn in the past April who are still in training at the Police Academy, and the more than 8,000 other police officers who have completed their training and already on the streets and subways keeping New York City safe.

Today’s new class of recruits was sworn in this morning and will begin their training at the Police Academy tomorrow, joining a growing force of officers preparing to make the five boroughs safer once they graduate. The recruits reflect the diversity, talent, and experience that define New York City: they hail from 51 different countries, speak 34 languages, and include 80 individuals with previous or current military service.

Today’s announcement also builds on the Adams administration’s “End Culture of Anything Goes” campaign, highlighting Mayor Adams’ ongoing efforts to change city culture, update laws and make strategic investments that improve quality of life and prevent public disorder on city streets.

“Public safety is the prerequisite to prosperity, and today’s announcement shows we are investing in the future of both,” said Mayor Adams. “With nearly 1,100 new police recruits — the most in almost 10 years — beginning their training today thanks to expanded eligibility and modernized educational requirements we announced earlier this year, we are building a stronger and more modern NYPD that reflects the diversity, commitment, and determination of our city. These recruits will be part of the nearly 10,000 police officers who have stepped up to serve under our administration, helping us achieve historic reductions in crime and keeping our communities safe. Together, we are ending the culture of ‘anything goes,’ improving quality of life, and keeping New York City the safest big city in America and the best place to raise a family.”

“Today is a defining moment for the NYPD and for New York City — 1,093 new recruits are entering the police academy, the largest class in nearly a decade,” said NYPD Commissioner Tisch. “The single most strategic thing the NYPD can do right now is hire more qualified officers. That’s why we were laser-focused on addressing our recruitment efforts and bringing in the next generation of officers. The momentum is changing, and thanks to Mayor Adams’ support, we will continue to attract the highest level of candidates to protect this city.”

Today’s announcement underscores the administration’s signature investments to make New York City safer, more affordable, and the best place to raise a family, while maintaining record-high reserves and ensuring a strong fiscal future. The Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 Adopted Budget — which builds on the “Best Budget Ever” — includes $3.4 billion for approximately 34,000 police officers, including four academy classes, and FY 2027 is funded to support a uniform force of 35,000.

In February 2025, NYPD Commissioner Tisch announced a three-part plan to attract more candidates and modernize education requirements to address the hiring crisis the NYPD has faced in recent years. The NYPD was one of the only remaining big-city municipal police forces in the country with a college credit requirement — which limited its ability to compete for applicants with other local agencies and major cities nationwide. As a result of the changes announced in February, the department reduced barriers to employment by reforming the required college credit minimum to enter the Police Academy from 60 credits to 24 credits. The new plan also emphasizes physical fitness by reinstating the previous long-standing requirement of completing a timed 1.5-mile run. Additionally, a recent reassessment conducted by the National College Credit Recommendation Service determined that the completion of the six-month NYPD Police Academy recruit training program is equivalent to 45 college credits, an increase from the previous 36 credits. Graduates of the academy will now enter the NYPD with a minimum of 69 college credits.

Following this expanded eligibility announcement, daily applications increased by almost 332 percent, from an average of 53.5 filings per day to 231.5 per day. During the most recent exam, that average skyrocketed 579 percent, with an average of 363 daily filers. There were more than 5,000 individuals registering to take the latest police exam in just 14 days. This massive increase reflects renewed interest in New Yorkers in serving the city.

The Adams administration’s focus on public safety has already produced historic results. From January 2025 to July 2025, New York City experienced the lowest number of shooting incidents and shooting victims in recorded history. These historic numbers helped drive down major crime categories into the seventh consecutive quarter, with a 5.6 percent drop in July 2025 compared to the same month last year. Overall index crime across New York City is down 5 percent year-to-date, with reductions in homicides, robberies, burglaries, felony assaults, grand larcenies, vehicle theft, shootings, transit crime, housing crime, retail theft, hate crimes, and more — resulting in 3,605 fewer victims of crime in New York City so far this year compared to the same period last year. These record-low crime statistics build on the Adams administration’s work to remove more than 23,200 illegal guns from New York City streets since coming into office, including more than 3,400 illegal firearms already removed year-to-date.

Mayor Adams has also invested in broader public safety initiatives to keep communities safe. He has launched a $500 million blueprint to keep communities safe from gun violence, surged police officers into the subways to help reduce crime in the transit system, released plans to crack down on auto thefts and combat retail thefts, hired additional mental health clinicians to support people with untreated severe mental illness and announced plans to pilot new technology in the subways, and expanded the Saturday Night Lights youth program to keep young people safe and engaged.

Mayor Adams and NYPD Commissioner Tisch also expanded the NYPD’s Quality of Life Division — a strategic public safety initiative launched in April 2025 that brings together specially trained officers from existing NYPD community-oriented roles to address chronic quality-of-life issues and strengthen community trust — to all five boroughs earlier this week. The division, made up of Q-Teams, will expand to housing developments citywide next month.

Through these combined efforts — recruitment, budget investments, and innovative programs — the Adams administration continues to prioritize safer streets, stronger communities, and a modernized police force prepared to meet the challenges of a 21st-century New York.

Interested applicants can learn more and apply by visiting the NYPD recruitment website.

August 20, 2025 MANHATTAN, NEW YORK

Sources: NYC.gov/
August 20, 2025
New York. Mayor Adams Calls In for Interview on 94.7 the Block’s “Jonesy in the Morning”

Tarsha Jones: Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the rat controller, the rat czar himself, Mayor Eric Adams. Good morning.

Mayor Eric Adams: Hey, sister. Good to speak with you this morning.

Jones: You did it. You did it.

Mayor Adams: You know, when you start out doing something, you accomplish that task.

Jones: You stayed the course. You did not let up. Now they’re complaining about the– they’re complaining about no parking spaces from the rat garbage cans that you put out there. They’re never, they’re never, they’re never satisfied.

Mayor Adams: You know what? That’s why you have to just stay focused. You know what your mission is. And we heard back in ‘22, when we first came into office, rodents were everywhere. And a young lady stopped me the other day. She’s a small property owner. I was in Harlem. She said, “Where did the rats go?”

Jones: We missed that. The []. Well, congratulations on that, because we’d be quick to attack you anytime something’s wrong. And finally, an issue that affected just about everybody in New York. We’re starting to see some progress. So kudos to you for that, mayor.

Mayor Adams: You know, when you add the progress of, you know, dealing with our road issue, our trash issue, you add the progress of dealing with gun violence and removal of guns on the street, how we decreased the numbers. You know, some of the lowest records in history. And then you add the job progress. You know, dropping unemployment in the Black community by, you know, over 20 percent in the Black and brown community. And dropping it citywide.

You start to really peel back and understand how much we have turned the city around, around public safety [and the] economy. And then add to that the scores that just recently came out with our children. And the reading and writing scores have increased because of what we’re doing in our schools.

So it’s just, the record is a clear record of just real progress in our city. And that’s the message I got to get out to everyday New Yorkers [of] how much we have improved the city. And we should all be proud as New Yorkers, the city is moving in the right direction.

Jones: It is. It absolutely is. And I also want to thank you for jumping in so quickly and putting together a mass shooting, an investigative team based on the mass shooting that took place in Crown Heights over the weekend.

Mayor Adams: Really, really sad and it hurts us all.

Jones: That’s horrible.

Mayor Adams: Yeah, our heart goes out to the families. And when you look at it and see that, you know, two of the shooters have been identified.

Jones: Good.

Mayor Adams: And they were shooting at each other.

Jones: But everybody else be []. Like everybody else be []. But you swooped right in and put together that squad to get to the bottom of the mass shootings. That was in record time.

Mayor Adams: Yeah, no, because we wanted to really deal with the retaliatory action that comes after a shooting. You know, oftentimes people don’t realize the shooting spurs other shootings. And so hats off to the crisis management team of one group that covered that area. It’s called Elite Learners. And they’re doing an amazing job. Shooters in that area have dropped by 60 percent because of what they’re doing.

And they were on the ground. And so this mass shooting should not tarnish the good work that they’re doing in the other crisis management teams. So the mass shooting response includes getting our crisis management team members on the ground, supporting each other, and really stopping further harm to the community and individual people.

Jones: I agree. We are on the phone with Mayor Eric Adams, ladies and gentlemen. If you have a question, try and call 844-947-0947. No guarantees that I’ll be able to actually get through to you, but give it a try. And we’ll be back with more of him when we return.

[Commercial Break.]

[Audio Drop.]

Mayor Adams: … And that’s been used as evidence to further investigate the case and make sure we finally got what happened there.

Jones: Thank you for that. Also, thank you for shutting down the beaches. I know you’re probably getting backlash for that. Although, you know, with the weather and the riptides and the hurricane that’s approaching, that was very responsible and, again, quick thinking.

Mayor Adams: Yeah, you know, and people don’t realize the riptides and the heavy waves. You may not realize it. You may not think that it’s going to impact you because you’re a good swimmer. But in reality, it is dangerous, extremely dangerous, even for good swimmers. And so the decision was to nearly close down for today and tomorrow. Now, the hurricane may not hit land here. That’s what the National Weather Service is telling us. But it still would impact the coastal areas.

So low-lying areas, people should be prepared. They should have to go. They should have to go back. And they should be, you know, really locked into NotifyNYC. So they’d be prepared for it. But you’ve got to be very careful. Even when the hurricanes don’t hit our shores, it still could be extremely dangerous.

Jones: Right. The riptide’s been ripping before this hurricane even got on the sphere. So thank you for saving people from themselves.

Mayor Adams: Well done. Well said.

Jones: Thank you. There’s a 6-year-old child and a mother and another 20-year-old high school student arrested because of these ICE arrests, and you have stepped up. Well, go ahead and tell everybody what you have done.

Mayor Adams: You know, we’ve done a—when it comes down to those who are undocumented in the city, we’re a big believer that we should put people on the pathway to a green card of citizenship. And we’ve done a lot to do that. We’ve put money in our Best Budget Ever. We’ve put money into legal services. and we also put people on the pathway of getting a work authorization because people want to work, and we don’t want people depending on the government.

And part of the process is showing up for your court cases. If your court case is up on a docket, you come in, you have to come in for your visit. And we believe when people go to court, they should not be arrested while going to court or held in custody, I should say held in custody, and then later deported while they go into court because that makes people fearful to carry out the process.

Jones: Right, and that’s by design. That’s a setup.

Mayor Adams: Right, right. And, you know, I always talk about when I was a rookie cop, a Chinese immigrant was being robbed while I was off duty and I took action, and he was afraid to come forward because he was an immigrant. And people were preying on immigrants back then. Because they knew they were afraid to go to the police.

So we want to encourage people to go to the police, children to go to school, and all the other activities, and not feel as though that they’re going to be held, you know, in custody because they’re showing up. Now, if the person is wanted for a serious violent act, then we believe ICE should take action. You know, they should do what’s right and apprehend that person, but not innocent people who are going to court to follow the process.

Jones: I hope that the court sides with you and the other reps that are filing the suit to stop this heinous activity. But is it too much, too little, too late?

Mayor Adams: Well, number one, when you take these cases– number one, you want to set precedent. And number two, you want to give the opportunity for the person to be returned back to another city they were deported from. And so it’s like you saw. Some cases where people were returned back. And so it’s, no, it’s never too little, too late. Because precedent is very important in these cases.

Jones: Are they allowed to go to the schools and snatch these kids out of school? Because school’s about to start, and the kids might be afraid to show up. Are the ICE agents allowed to go and sit outside the schools and snatch them up as we stand today?

Mayor Adams: No, no, no, they’re not. You cannot go into the schools unless you have what’s called a federal judicial warrant that allows you to do so. So, no, they cannot go into the schools.

Jones: Can they stand outside the school and wait for the kids to come out and say, oh, that looks like this person that we, or they look of dissent. So let’s snatch them up.

Mayor Adams: Yes, technically they can. Technically they can. But we have had no actions at all where they stood out to schools and, you know, grabbed children. And in this case with the child, they took the family while they were showing up for court proceedings. They took the family, and this young child was included in the family. But technically they can stand outside the schools, but we have had no cases involved in that. And they cannot go inside the schools and take a child.

Jones: Thank you, Mayor Eric Adams. I appreciate you always checking in here every other Wednesday, guys. And be safe out there. Keep up the good work. Don’t get distracted.

Mayor Adams: Thank you. Stay focused, no distractions, and grind. That’s my message.

August 20, 2025

Sources: NYC.gov

August 20, 2025