New York mayor vows to work with Trump on immigration

New York Mayor Eric Adams said Thursday he wanted to work more closely with President Donald Trump on immigration policy, revealing he was even willing to risk the financial hub's "sanctuary city" status.

Adams, who is on the right of the Democratic Party, said on X he had met Trump's "border chief" Tom Homan to discuss working together to remove violent gangs from America's largest city.

He posted that he was strategising with Homan on implementing an executive order to allow Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents back into Rikers Island prison to organise deportations.

Since the adoption in 2014 of New York's "sanctuary" status - which limits its cooperation with federal immigration enforcement - ICE has not had offices in the facility to help with removal of non-citizens.

Adams said that under the executive order, federal immigration agents would now be assigned specifically to assist with "criminal investigations, in particular those focused on violent criminals and gangs".

"I have been clear that I want to work with the new federal administration, not war with them," the former police captain said.

He also raised the possibility of embedding more New York police detectives into federal task forces focussing on violent gangs and criminal activity.

Adams has spent months aligning his positions on immigration with those of the Trump administration, which asked Manhattan prosecutors on Monday to drop the corruption charges against Adams.

The Manhattan federal prosecutor in charge of the case resigned Thursday.

Labelling Adams' cooperation with ICE "shameless", the Immigrant Defence Project advocacy group said the New York mayor was "targeting immigrants in a quid pro quo with President Trump to get his corruption charges dropped".

US Attorney General Pam Bondi is suing New York state authorities over the financial hub's role as a "sanctuary city".

AFP