Days after Governor Kathy Hochul announced that she would impose new restrictions on the power of Mayor Eric Adams instead of dismissing him “for now”, hundreds of New Yorkers demonstrated and marched on February 22, demanding that he reversed his decision and dismissed the mayor.
The demonstration was organized by the New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC), an organization that groups more than 200 groups for the defense of immigrants and refugees rights throughout the State. The protest began in Washington Square Park before the protesters marched to the City Council at Bajo Manhattan.
The president and executive director of NYIC, Murad Awawdeh, told Amnewyork Metro that there is a deep fear in the immigrant communities of New York due to Trump’s mass deportation agenda and that Adams will continue to fulfill his will instead of serving the New York who chose him.
This concern arises from the accusations made by the Federal former Federal of the Southern District of New York, Danielle Sassoon, who, in a letter of February 12 to the US attorney general, Pam Bondi, said that Adams’s lawyers offered a quid pro quo: cooperate with the immigration repression of President Trump in exchange for the criminal accusation for fraud in his campaign. The Adams defense team has denied this, and the mayor reiterated his innocence under oath during a judicial hearing on February 19.
Although Hochul explained on February 20 that his decision not to dismiss the mayor at this time was based on the concern that the process would generate more “disruption and chaos”, other New Yorkers believe that he is simply “kicking the problem forward”, an opinion with which Awawdeh coincided.
“At this time, what we are seeing is a huge level of fear, not only for Donald Trump, but because the greatest threat to New York City is right now is Eric Adams and the way he is operating,” said Awawdeh.
That fear has become a paralysis within the immigrant communities of New York, he said.
«We have heard of children who do not go to school. We have heard from people who do not attend their medical appointments, and we have heard about the impact that all this is having on small businesses, ”Awawdeh shared.
Before the march to the City Council on Saturday, several speakers went to the crowd, including councilor Alexa Avilés (D-Brooklyn) and the state-owned Senator Kristen González, whose district covers parts of Queens, Manhattan and Brooklyn. Both stated that the city needs a mayor to serve its diverse population, not Trump’s agenda.
Avilés, who presides over the Immigration Committee of the Municipal Council, said that Adams blamed the budget cuts to the immigration crisis, which has cost New York $ 5 billion in two years.
«This pattern of facts demonstrates its contempt for New Yorkers, their contempt for immigrants and newcomers. First he tried to present himself as benevolent and then blamed them for all the evils of the city, generating hatred in our communities, ”Aviles emphasized.
González described the indecision to dismiss Adams as a “failure.”
“Our inability to point out that it is unacceptable for a criminal president to compromise a accused mayor to sell our city, and our refusal to dismiss it, that is a failure,” Gonzalez said, committing to challenge Hochul’s decision.
Julio Herrera, director of Operations of the Black Institute and the Black Leadership Action Coalition, described ADAMS as a “responsibility and damage” for New York City, and said that Hochul must demonstrate his leadership, since “there is no space for negotiation” with the Trump administration.
“We have a mayor who approaches the Trump administration, smiling and posing while the Tsar of the border threatens to destroy our families and our communities,” said Herrera, referring to the appearance of Adams with the director of the Customs Immigration and Control Service (ICE), Tom Homan, in Fox & Friends on February 14.
Addressing Hochul, Herrera declared: «The people who chose you demand that you take action, have value and do the work for which we hire you. The more you postpone it, the more damage this man will cause our people and our communities, while ICE enters and destroys us ».
On February 21, the Federal District Judge Dale Ho indefinitely suspended the corruption trial against the mayor while appointed an independent lawyer, the US former USer of the USA Paul Clement, to argue against the motion of the Department of Justice to dismiss the case against Adams.
