Adams, Homan turn heads with joint appearance?on ‘Fox & Friends’— that came with warning if NYC mayor fails on Trump immigration crackdown
New York City Mayor Eric Adams sat down with “border czar” Tom Homan on Fox News Friday — in an extraordinary scene that saw the President Trump appointee threaten to be up Hizzoner’s “butt” if he fails to crack down on illegal immigration.
“If he doesn’t come through, I’ll be back in New York City and we won’t be sitting on the couch, I’ll be in his office, up his butt, saying, ‘Where the hell is this agreement we came to?’” Homan said, seated next to Adams on a couch for the “Fox & Friends” interview.
Adams laughed loudly, before pointing at Homan and saying, with a straight face, “And I want ICE to deliver.”
“We’re going to deliver for the safety of the people of this city,” he said.
The unusual bipartisan display came as Adams faced blowback from the left over his willingness to work with the White House on the border crisis — and accusations of engaging in a “quid pro quo” with the Trump administration to get the federal corruption case against him tossed.
The mayor, who at times sat stone-faced and at others tried to make jokes and laughed, appeared to overpromise on the extent of his compliance with Trump’s anti-illegal immigration push.
He said he wanted to loosen New York City’s sanctuary laws to allow the NYPD to cooperate with ICE even on civil enforcement — only to then quickly walk back the remarks in a prepared statement.
The bizarro scene — of the Democratic mayor of the nation’s largest city chumming it up with a GOP official on a Trump-beloved morning TV program — struck elected officials and political operatives from across the spectrum.
“We are living through some very strange times. Waking up to the mayor and the ICE cowboy on ‘Fox & Friends’ was not on my 2025 bingo card,” one city source said.
Some critics described Adams’ demeanor as that of a “hostage,” with one even going as far as to say he “looked like a battered woman sitting beside her abuser at the police station—too afraid or unwilling to speak out.”
“The entire country watched our Mayor embarrass himself on national television, sitting there while Donald Trump’s cabinet tells him what to do. It’s unreal,” said one city Democratic lawmaker, who didn’t want to be named.
“Eric Adams and Trump’s border czar looked like best friends in that interview. This type of cowering is embarrassing, confusing and detrimental to our city,” another added.
“It was cringeworthy television and reminded me of a hostage situation,” state Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal (D-Manhattan) told The Post.
But New York State Conservative Party Chairman Gerald Kassar said Dems slamming Adams over the appearance should “calm down” — and focus on the issues.
“The Democrats that are criticizing Adams are doing it strictly for political reasons. They should spend a few more minutes talking to their neighbors and other citizens of the city that by a large majority believe the sanctuary city policy needs to be trashed,” he said.
The joint appearance followed a closed-door meeting between Adams and Homan Thursday at the ICE headquarters in Manhattan — after which the mayor promised he’d reopen the ICE office on Rikers Island.
Adams, in the approximately 20-minute sit-down, said that he had been pushing the City Council to tweak the law so cops can help the feds crack down on illegal migrants.
“What I asked the City Council to do is change the bill that was already in place and modify it … if you are committing a crime, then we should be able to collaborate with ICE — even on civil enforcement if you have committed a crime,” he said.
“That part of the bill is wrong.”
Under the current sanctuary laws, the NYPD can only work with ICE when it comes to a criminal detainer, which is ordered by a judge.
ICE can issue its own civil detainers if it suspects a migrant entered illegally.
Soon after making the remarks, the mayor backtracked, telling The Post “there seems to be a misunderstanding.”
“Let me be very clear, I am not opening the door to civil immigration enforcement with the federal government,” he said in a statement.
“I believe the federal government should pursue dangerous criminals, including undocumented individuals, as our city’s local laws have long stated only through criminal enforcement actions.”
He added, “Our laws can be strengthened, however, to more effectively go after those who are dangerous criminals who are here illegally. To not have that honest conversation would be irresponsible.”
City Hall refused to elaborate when asked what exact changes Adams was calling for after he misspoke.
“As with all things Adams, it’s hard to know quite what that is,” civil rights attorney Ron Kuby told The Post when asked about Adams’ sanctuary city comments.
“We are living in a society these days where perceptions are much more important than facts. As long as Eric Adams is perceived to be doing Trump bidding Trump may continue to keep his criminal charges in abeyance.”
The NYPD issued a statement hours after the interview insisting that it “does not engage in civil immigration enforcement, period.”
“The NYPD does engage in criminal enforcement matters, as it always has, regardless of a person’s immigration status, including work on federal criminal task forces,” officials said.
Earlier in the interview, Hizzoner had defended the Big Apple’s sanctuary city status, which protects undocumented immigrants from deportation or detention by the feds.
“If you’re in this city and you’re paying taxes, you should have access to the services,” Adams said as he defended parts of the current law.
“Everyday people who are here, they’re moving to be documented, if they are going to school, working, paying taxes, then they should be able to [obtain] police services, hospital services, children should go to school.”
Still, a defiant Homan disagreed — insisting that the law was just a “sanctuary of criminals.”
“I’m strictly against sanctuary city status because I think sanctuaries are for criminals,” he said.
Adams, meanwhile, argued the far-left had “hijacked the narrative” when it comes to his push to help the feds crackdown on illegal migrants by spewing that “ICE is running in our schools, ICE is running in our churches.”
“They are creating this frenzy,” he said. “[ICE] are not in the business of just grabbing children and we need to just stop all this noise.”
Later, he appeared for another joint interview with Homan — telling former talk show host Dr. Phil McGraw that he was happy to be working with the Trump administration to help deport violent migrant criminals.
He noted it marked a shift from his experience under former President Joe Biden, who Adams had publicly called out for not doing enough to stem the border crisis.
“I’m really pleased to have this collaboration because it was almost as though I was crying out in the wind and this administration heard it,” Adams said.
— Additional reporting by Priscilla DeGregory and Aneeta Bhole
