Moves to drop corruption charges against NYC Mayor condemned
Published:Tuesday | February 11, 2025 | 12:12 PM
NEW YORK, CMC – Caribbean immigration advocates in New York have condemned United States President Donald Trump for his intervention in a US federal case in which New York City Mayor Eric Adams is accused of corruption.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) on Monday night instructed federal prosecutors in the Southern District Court of New York to rescind the charges against Adams who had been indicted on five counts involving bribery conspiracy, fraud and soliciting illegal foreign campaign donations.
In a memo dispatched to federal prosecutors, Emil Bove, the prosecutor in the Southern District Court of New York and the DOJ’s acting second-in-command, instructed that there will be, for now, “no further targeting of Mayor Adams or additional investigative steps”.
But Murad Awawdeh, president and chief executive officer of the New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC), condemned the decision.
He accused Adams of betraying Caribbean and other immigrant communities by cosying up to Trump amid the president’s mass deportation agenda.
“There is no longer any doubt: Eric Adams has sold out immigrant New Yorkers to keep himself out of prison,” Awawdeh told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC), adding that he will continue to sell out immigrants and all of New York City to repay his debt to Trump.
“The highly unusual intervention of Trump’s DOJ into this prosecution is further proof that the president has no regard for justice and will stop at nothing to spare his political allies from facing accountability,” he added.
“New Yorkers will keep paying the price for the mayor’s callous disregard for our laws, as Adams looks out for his own future instead of the safety and well-being of every New Yorker,” Awawdeh said.
The New York Civil Liberties Union(NYCLU) said that by dismissing the charges without prejudice, the Trump administration retains the option to refile charges and keeps open a channel to exert political pressure.
“By giving ground to Trump’s cruel immigration designs, Adams is betraying our communities. New Yorkers must wonder whether the mayor’s personal interests and the city’s are now in indefinite conflict,” NYCLU said in a statement.
However, the mayor’s lawyer, Alex Spiro, welcomed the DOJ’s action, saying that from the outset, the mayor is innocent.
The New York Working Families Party (NYWFP) last weekend joined Caribbean immigration advocates and dozens of legislators in protesting Adams’s circulation of a memo directing city agencies to allow United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to search schools, the shelter system and other locations, if staff feels “threatened”, in view of Trump’s mass deportation efforts.
Immigration groups Make the Road New York and NYIC, as well as Jews for Racial and Economic Justice and New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, the son of Grenadian immigrants, were among demonstrators demanding that Adams protect New Yorkers and Caribbean and other immigrants, and reject cooperation with President Trump’s “racist deportation agenda.”
Protesters rallied against Mayor Adams’ revision of the city’s sanctuary rules permitting ICE agents to conduct raids in city facilities. They said Adams’ action is “the latest in a series of moves cosying up to President Trump”.
Follow The Gleaner on X and Instagram @JamaicaGleaner and on Facebook @GleanerJamaica. Send us a message on WhatsApp at 1-876-499-0169 or email us at onlinefeedback@gleanerjm.com or editors@gleanerjm.com.