As mayor of New York City and a former police officer for 22 years, keeping New Yorkers safe is my top priority and it has been our administration’s North Star. When I entered this role, my job was to help our city recover from the negative effects of COVID — most importantly, to bring crime down. As a result, overall crime was down across New York City last year, and we have now had three straight months of double-digit declines in major crimes.
Tomorrow, I will be testifying before the United States Congress on how under our administration’s leadership, New York City can continue to reduce crime, even as a “sanctuary city,” and how big-city mayors can add sense back into governing.
It starts with standing firm in rejecting the misperception that a “sanctuary city” classification means our city will ever be a safe haven for violent criminals.
We must continue to ensure that those who commit violent crimes, no matter long-time residents or new arrivals, are held accountable and that the public is kept safe. Being a “sanctuary city” also does not give New York City the authority to violate federal immigration laws. To the contrary, New York City will always comply with city, state, and federal laws, as it does now.
Second, we must recognize that law-abiding immigrants in New York have played an important role in our society. Immigrant New Yorkers, including those who are undocumented, pay billions of dollars in taxes and contribute billions more in spending power to our economy. Immigrants also play a vital role in the functioning of the city; this was on full display during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The various immigrant residents of our city worked to keep the city moving while many other New Yorkers were able to shelter in place and work remotely. Hospitals, the food industry, and many other businesses were able to function because of the commitment of our immigrant population.
Finally, we must understand how — despite a patchwork of laws at the federal, state, and city levels — we must all still work together to solve what’s been a problem decades-in-the-making. I have consistently said, “I will work with the federal government, not war with them.”
That’s because, as mayor, I do not control who enters or remains in our country, but I do have to manage the population that is within our city. In order to carry out this function without having long-term negative ramifications, I must create an atmosphere that allows every law-abiding resident, documented or not, to access vital services without fear of being turned over to federal authorities.
I cannot have a city where parents are afraid to send their children to school or where children are sleeping on the streets — creating the potential for child exploitation and sex trafficking. If an undocumented person refuses to seek medical care until they have a medical emergency, our city’s health care system will be strained. And if an undocumented individual witnesses a crime but is afraid to call 911 for fear of being turned over to federal authorities, criminals will roam free.
As a former police officer, I have seen firsthand the damage that can be done when someone is too afraid to seek out the police. Early in my career, I responded to a man who was calling out for help. We caught the suspect but when it came to filling out the police report, the individual — an undocumented man from China — said he did not want to file a report and put a target on his back with federal immigration authorities.
Nearly four decades later, our country still has not passed comprehensive immigration reform and, as a result, New York City was hit with the largest humanitarian crisis in our city’s history over the last three years.
Since the spring of 2022, our city has seen over 232,000 migrants arrive in our city asking for shelter — that’s a population larger than Rochester, N.Y., Columbus, Ohio, and Tallahassee, Fl.
But thanks to our skilled management and smart policies that implemented restrictions on how long asylum seekers can stay in our care, and comprehensive border policies we vigorously advocated for, we’ve managed to help over 188,000 migrants take the next steps in their journeys.
And between June 2024 and June 2025, we will have closed 53 emergency migrant shelters thanks to our exit policies, allowing us to turn the page on this crisis, which we have largely shouldered on our own, and save taxpayers millions of dollars.
And consider this: when the unprecedented international migrant crisis arrived at New York City’s front door step, federal law did not allow me to stop buses from entering New York City and state law required me to provide all in our city with housing and meals and to educate children. We complied with these legal requirements and still managed the humanitarian crisis with care and compassion, while at the same time bringing down crime, recovering our economy, and preventing any child from being forced to sleep on the streets.
But, we, nor any city across the country, can do it alone. Comprehensive immigration reform is long overdue, and something I, and others, have been calling for. While the solution is not within my control, as a mayor, I am committed to working with federal officials — no matter who is president — to go after violent gangs and those who harm residents of our city, and I implore everyone, whether a big-city mayor or any other elected official, to join us in following suit.
Adams is the Mayor of New York City.
