Homan: ICE operations to increase in New York City

President Trump's border czar, Tom Homan, said that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations will soon increase in New York City.

Homan told Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom” in a Tuesday interview that he previously had an agreement with New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) to let ICE operate from Rikers Island, but the City Council sued to block the proposal, and the state Supreme Court ruled in the council's favor, The Hill news outlet reported.

“I plan on being in New York City in the near future. We’re going to do operations in New York City. We know, in New York City, me and Mayor Adams at one point had an agreement to let ICE into Rikers Island … but the city council shut it down,” Homan said.

“So we’re going to be coming to New York City,” he continued. “We’re already there now. I mean, teams are there now, but we are increasing enforcement presence in New York City — again, because they’re a sanctuary city, and we know we have an issue there with public safety threats in the street every day.”

“Regardless of Republican or Democratic city, we’re going to enforce the laws across this country and take those public safety threats off the street,” Homan said.

“I’ve said it from day one: Sanctuary cities, we’re flooding the zone because we know they’re releasing public safety threats in the communities every day,” he added.

“That’s where the biggest problem is, and that’s where we’re sending the majority of the agents.”

A spokesperson from Adams’s office noted the importance of maintaining public safety, saying, “That’s exactly what Mayor Adams has worked to do every day for nearly four years.”

“As the Adams administration has said over and over, we are willing to work with federal authorities on criminal issues like stopping the flow of illegal guns,” according to the spokesperson's statement, pointing to public safety achievements during Adams’s term.

“But we have also been clear that our administration will always follow the law, and that means we do not collaborate with the federal government on civil immigration enforcement,” the statement continued.