Incoming border czar Tom Homan lauded New York City Mayor Eric Adams on Thursday, predicting that the Big Apple “is about to get a lot safer” after a Gracie Mansion meeting where they discussed the migrant crisis.
“It went great,” Homan told Fox News host Sean Hannity about the meeting, noting that he spoke with Adams for “well over an hour.”
“He gets it. And today he proved that as the mayor of New York City, he’s more concerned with public safety than politics,” the former acting head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement said.
Homan, who has been tasked by President-elect Donald Trump to carry out the largest deportation in US history, revealed that Adams was eager to assist ICE in removing dangers from his city.
“He wants to help ICE take criminal threats off the street. He wants to help ICE look for national security threats. He wants to help ICE find over 340,000 missing children, which many of them are going to be in the city,” Homan said.
“He would like to see [ICE] back in Rikers Island – to arrest the bad guys in the safety and security of a jail, rather than release them into the community and put the community at risk,” he added. “He wants his law enforcement officers, the precincts, to release criminal aliens to us and not on the street.”
The future border czar indicated that Adams was also interested in learning about the finer points of how “ICE does its job” and the “roadblocks” that exist for the agency in New York City.
Adams, 64, vowed after the meeting that he would use his executive powers to “go after dangerous people who are committing violent acts as migrants and asylum seekers.”
“We will not be a safe haven for those who commit violent acts. We don’t do it for those who are citizens, and we are not going to do it for those who are undocumented,” the mayor said during a press conference.
Homan noted that he and Adams also discussed the brutal murder of Georgia nursing student Laken Riley, and how her killer, Jose Antonio Ibarra, an illegal migrant from Venezuela, had a run-in with the law in New York City prior to his heinous act.
“We talked about … that Laken Riley’s killer was arrested here in New York City for endangering a child,” he said. “If things were different, ICE could’ve taken custody of him rather than releasing him.”
Homan predicted that his productive meeting with Adams would lead to a “domino effect” and that other mayors reeling from the surge in illegal border-crossings under President Biden will soon be wanting to meet with him.
“I left that meeting feeling really good, and we will continue our conversations,” Homan said, noting that their staff will also be getting together to “work out the details.”
“But I think New York City is about to get a lot safer,” Homan said. “I think New York City is about to send a strong message.”
Earlier this week, the soon-to-be border boss expressed disdain for sanctuary-city Mayor Brandon Johnson of Chicago and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker – both Democrats – for their pledges to shield migrants from deportation.
“Chicago’s in trouble because your mayor sucks and your governor sucks,” Homan reportedly remarked at a holiday party hosted by the Law and Order PAC and the Northwest Side GOP Club Monday.
Homan told Hannity that he hopes Johnson, Pritzker and other sanctuary-city supporters follow Adams’ lead.
“I wish the mayor of Chicago and the San Diego City Council and Governor Pritzker – I wish they’d all take a page out of Mayor Eric Adams playbook, because he – the ex-cop, came out of him today – he really cares about public safety, and he’s put politics aside,” Homan said.
