OAN Staff Blake Wolf
9:46 AM – Sunday, February 16, 2025
Border czar Tom Homan pushed back on allegations that the Justice Department decided to drop charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams in exchange for allowing federal immigration officials to enter Rikers Island.
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Adams (D-N.Y.) met with Homan on Thursday to discuss reopening relations with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency on Rikers Island, after previously being shut down by a 2014 “sanctuary city” law by former Mayor Bill de Blasio.
“Today, I met with border czar Tom Homan and local federal law enforcement officials to discuss how we can work together to remove violent migrant gangs from our city,” Adams stated on Thursday. “We are now working on implementing an executive order that will reestablish the ability for ICE agents to operate on Rikers Island — as was the case for 20 years.”
Homan’s comments came during a Sunday CNN “State of the Union” interview with CNN’s Dana Bash, where she stated “It sounds like the DoJ dropped the case against Adams, [and in] exchange, he let you into Rikers. Is that what happened?”
Homan responded, calling Bash’s accusation “ridiculous,” while stating that he and “Mayor Adams met [a] couple months ago,” which was prior to the dropped charges.
“We talked about getting a presence in Rikers Island, we talked about how we can collaborate on public safety threats,” Homan continued. “We had that a couple [of] months ago, long before this other discussion.”
Bash’s question follows after the Department of Justice recently ordered federal prosecutors to drop their bribery case against Adams, citing the charges as politically motivated under the Biden administration.
The charges were brought against Mayor Adams after he criticized the Biden administration’s migrant crisis, stating that the issue would “destroy New York City,” which placed more pressure on former President Joe Biden to address his relaxed border policies.
Adams was formally accused of accepting $123,000 worth of bribes while also collecting $10 million in public campaign funds, which could have landed him up to 45 years in prison if convicted.
Bash’s questions continued, asking Homan if Adams “does not do what you want him to do, would you be okay with the DOJ reopening its investigation into him?”
“I’m a border czar, I care about the border,” Homan responded. “Let the DoJ do what they do. I care about removing public safety threats from the country.”
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