Eric Adams Wants to Deport Migrants Who Are Accused of Serious Crimes

For years, New York City leaders have relished the status of being a so-called sanctuary city, where local law enforcement cooperation with federal immigration officials is limited.

On Tuesday, Mayor Eric Adams made it clear that his views were different. If he had his way, he said he would permit law enforcement in New York City to work openly with immigration authorities to more readily deport migrants who were suspected — not necessarily convicted — of serious crimes.

“There’s some people that feel that they should be able to remain here, keep doing their actions until they are eventually convicted,” he said. “I don’t subscribe to that theory.”

A reporter asked Mr. Adams, a first-term Democrat, about due process.

“They didn’t give due process to the person that they shot or punched or killed,” the mayor countered. “There’s just a philosophical disagreement here.”

Any changes to the city’s sanctuary laws would require the City Council’s cooperation. Adrienne Adams, the Council speaker, has made it clear there were “no plans to revisit these laws,” a spokesman said.

Mr. Adams’s remarks follow a series of crimes the police say that migrants committed in New York City that have garnered intense press coverage. They also follow the arrest of Jose Antonio Ibarra, a 26-year-old Venezuelan migrant in Georgia charged with killing a nursing student. Last year, Mr. Ibarra was arrested in New York City, charged with riding a scooter without a license and with riding with a minor who was not wearing a helmet, according to a high-ranking law enforcement source.