Commit a crime, get deported before doing the time.
Mayor Eric Adams said Tuesday that he’s open to deporting migrants from New York City who have been charged with crimes — a shift from his past stance of waiting for convictions before shipping off immigrant criminals.
Adams said he soon plans to meet with President-elect Donald Trump’s new “border czar” Tom Homan on the incoming administration’s plans to potentially deport accused migrant criminals.
“My position is people who commit crimes in our city, you have abdicated your right to be in our city and I am open to figure out the best way to address that,” he said.
“You’ve got a guy, he’s on camera shooting at a police officer,” he said, referring to Bernardo Castro Mata, a 19-year-old from Venezuela who illegally crossed into the US before allegedly shooting two NYPD officers.
“I don’t want that guy in my city, plain and simple.”
He added: “Those who are here committing crimes, robberies shooting at police officers, raping innocent people, have been a harm to our country.”
Hizzoner contended many progressives in this era of “cancel culture” have been afraid to put their foot down on deporting criminal immigrants.
“Cancel me, because I’m going to protect the people of this city,” he said.
The mayor’s newfound openness to hardline actions comes as the Big Apple — a city defined by the immigrant experience, where the Statue of Liberty beckons “huddled masses yearning to breathe free — braces for Trump’s promised mass deportations and other crackdowns.
Homan recently told The Post that he wants the incoming administration to withhold federal funding from sanctuary jurisdictions such as New York City.
He has also warned that Big Apple leaders won’t be able to stop the feds from deporting migrant criminals.
“If we can’t get assistance from New York City, we may have to double the number of agents we send to New York City,” he said on Fox & Friends last month. “Because we’re going to do the job with you or without you.”
Rather than fight Homan and Trump, Adams offered an olive branch, arguing the 2024 presidential election showed Americans want a change on immigration and the US border.
“The American people heard it and voted for it,” he said about Trump’s promises to secure the border.
He said spoke with Homan Tuesday and soon will meet with the incoming border czar.
“I want to make clear I’m not going to warring with this administration, I’m going to be working with this administration,” he said.
“I’d like to speak with our border czar and find out what his plans are. Where our common grounds are, we can work together.”
Adams, a former NYPD captain, has publicly played “good cop, bad cop” on immigration issues even before Trump’s electoral victory.
He has pushed for compassion for the 200,000 migrants who flowed into New York City over recent years, and presided — albeit begrudgingly — over $6.4 billion in spending for food, shelter and other services.
And Adams drew the line at deporting law-abiding undocumented immigrants and DREAMers, such as his commissioner of immigrant affairs Manuel Castro, who crossed the US-Mexico border as a 5-year-old.
“Those people should not be rounded up in the middle of the night,” he said. “These are people who love our country and they’re participating in our country.”
But Hizzoner has also repeatedly to loosen the Big Apple’s sanctuary city laws, specifically for working with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement when migrants are accused of serious crimes.
When a reporter pointed out that Adams himself faces criminal charges, he contended there’s a difference between his case and any migrant accused of crimes.
“First of all, I’m an American,” said Adams, who has pleaded not guilty. “Americans have certain rights. The Constitution is for Americans and I’m not a person that snuck into this country. My ancestors have been here for a long time.”
