Adams denies NYC plans to roll back sanctuary city status as he spars with upstate leaders over migrant housing

Mayor Adams denied Tuesday that he intends to roll back New York’s sanctuary city status — days after Orange County Executive Steve Neuhaus claimed the mayor told elected leaders he was considering such a change.

Adams’ statement comes as the city continues its struggle to house tens of thousands of migrants, most of them from Latin America, and as upstate leaders push back against efforts to relocate some of the migrants.

During an interview Tuesday morning on 1010 WINS, Adams responded to Neuhaus posting a video on Facebook where he said Adams told county executives that he wasn’t responsible for making New York City a sanctuary city and that he’s “also talking about going to court to change that” status.

The mayor said that flatly isn’t true — and said other communities in the state need to step up and help out.

“Let me be very clear on what I stated. We have [been] a sanctuary city for over 40 years, and when you think about … the law that was put in place or the agreement that was put in place, no one anticipated having 4,200 people come in one week to the city,” Adams said.

“What we were going to court to deal with was the various executive orders that some of the county execs put in place to prevent us from having our entire state share this responsibility and burden,” Adams continued, referring to the migrant crisis.

“New York City is the economic engine of this state, and we’re stating to everyone who benefits from our tax dollars that they should play a role during this crucial time as we manage this crisis.”

The city’s status as a sanctuary city essentially means city government does not actively pursue the detention of undocumented immigrants and doesn’t assist the federal government in doing so either — making it an attractive destination for migrants.

Murad Awawdeh, executive director of the New York Immigrant Coalition, said it’s also central to public safety because it allows undocumented immigrants the ability to report crimes without fear of being deported.

“No one should be deputizing local law enforcement to do anything but enforce local law,” he said. “What County Executive Neuhaus is implying is outrageous to begin with. And I highly doubt that the mayor or this administration, who I’ve been very critical of, would even suggest this when their top issue is public safety.”

But the city’s sanctuary status has made it an attractive destination for migrants flowing into the U.S.

For more than a year, Adams has been struggling to house more than 60,000 migrants who have streamed into the city after entering the U.S., mostly into southern border states. For months, he’s been demanding more assistance from both the federal and state governments. And while, some help has come — in the form of monetary relief from the federal government — Adams has continued to say much more is needed.

A week ago, he announced that the city’s social services infrastructure had become so overburdened that the city would send migrants to two upstate counties where they’d be housed in hotels paid for by city taxpayers.

But those efforts have been met with resistance from leaders in Rockland and Orange County.

Last Tuesday, Orangetown Supervisor Teresa Kenny, a Republican, convinced a Rockland County judge to issue a temporary restraining order prohibiting a local hotel from housing migrants coming up from New York City, an order that the judge extended over the weekend until May 31.

Rockland County Executive Ed Day also successfully pushed for a separate temporary restraining order, which will remain in effect to at least May 30 and also prohibits the city from sending migrants to the Armoni Inn & Suites, which is Orangetown.

The city has found limited success in sending migrants north, though. Last week, dozens of them arrived in Orange County from the city to stay at the Crossroads Hotel and Ramada by Wyndham in the town of Newburgh. Neuhaus issued a state of emergency over the move and is suing to have a state judge block Adams’ program.

“We don’t know anything about these individuals that are here — where they’re from, what’s their status, are they going to get working papers,” Neuhaus said last week on Facebook. “This is not the way to do things.”