At an NYC mayoral forum, Wednesday, hosted at the CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies and co-organized by the New York Immigration Coalition, Documented, and THE CITY, six Democratic candidates criticized Mayor Eric Adams and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo while outlining bold plans to expand immigrant protections and services.
The candidates — Zohran Mamdani, Adrienne Adams, Brad Lander, Scott Stringer, Michael Blake, and Zellnor Myrie — vowed to reverse the Adams administration’s recent executive order allowing ICE to operate on Rikers Island, expand sanctuary city laws, and cut NYPD overtime to fund other services in the city. The forum highlighted deep frustration with what the candidates called Adams’ politicizing of asylum seekers and immigrant issues and underscored just how much immigration policy is a key issue in the 2025 race for City Hall.
Documented’s Amir Khafagy and THE CITY’s Gwynne Hogan moderated the forum, which drew a crowd of around 400 people, with half of those being in person. The forum featured responses on topics from sanctuary city laws to wage theft enforcement and the city’s handling of the humanitarian migrant crisis.
Candidates Condemn ICE at Rikers, Promise Legal Protections
The reopening of an ICE office on Rikers Island via Executive Order 50 drew unanimous condemnation from the candidates. Speaker Adrienne Adams, Comptroller Brad Lander, Assemblymember Michael Blake, and former Comptroller Scott Stringer, who kicked off the conversation before other candidates arrived, pledged to reverse the order if elected.
“ICE has no business here,” said Blake. “Whether they are at Rikers, or our places of worship, or whether they are our schools. We are a sanctuary city. […] We have to have increased legal protections, because what is happening consistently is that too many of our immigrant brothers and sisters are not having that protection in the first place.”
Stringer proposed a $1 billion emergency fund— split between the city and state — to shield immigrant legal services from expected Trump-era funding cuts. He also unveiled a land-use plan called SHIELD (Safeguarding Historic Infrastructure through Effective Land-Use Defenses): “which would basically ensure that Trump can’t unload federal office buildings that hold immigrant rights or immigrant rights services, services to seniors,” he said.
Speaker Adams, referencing the Council’s lawsuit filed Tuesday which challenged the legality of Executive Order 50 that re-establishes ICE presence on Rikers Island, said: “We have watched the lawsuit that I implemented [Tuesday] to safeguard and protect our sanctuary city laws and protect our immigrants from the horror of ICE coming in because of a quid pro quo that our mayor [agreed to]. The deal was — we all watched Fox and Friends. Appalled at the fact that we watched the deal go down. ‘I will be up your butt if you don’t do what I say.’ Excuse me. That was the deal right there. ‘Get ICE over here, or you go to jail’,” recalling what Border Czar Tom Homan said to Adams on TV. Speaker Adrienne Adams said the City Council’s lawsuit contends that Executive Order 50 was unlawfully signed by the first deputy mayor, who lacked the authority under the City Charter, and that the city should not legitimize what she described as a quid pro quo arrangement.
The candidates also backed the New York for All Act, state legislation that would ban local cooperation with ICE.
Reining in NYPD Overtime to Fund Other City Services
Candidates debated NYPD’s ballooning overtime costs and how that funding could be reallocated. In the 2024 fiscal year, the NYPD spent nearly $1.1 billion on overtime, which is $141 million more than the previous year. Speaker Adams called it a recurring problem: “This is a budget dance that we go through with the NYPD every single year.”
Comptroller Lander outlined a plan to prepare the city’s budget for potential Trump-era cuts and an expected recession, citing a projected $1 billion surplus he said should be added to the rainy day fund and general reserve. While calling for reductions in NYPD overtime, he rejected cutting the public safety budget, emphasizing the need for accountability instead. “I don’t think we should cut our public safety budget in order to protect our city from Trump. New Yorkers want public safety now. They want accountable policing, and they don’t want wasteful overtime,” Lander said.
Defending Immigrant Student Activists
Candidates called for stronger protections for immigrant students and condemned the mayor’s use of NYPD against campus demonstrators.
“Sending NYPD to terrorize students on campuses is wrong,” said Blake. “We cannot and will not be an authoritarian state where people are being deported because of Trump’s unconstitutional behavior.”
Stringer accused Adams of “leveraging this moment in time for his own political advantage,” saying it betrayed decades of civil rights progress.
“As the first woman mayor, that is where my heart is going to be, protecting every person that lives and gives their all to New York City,” said Speaker Adams.
Lander pointedly noted that he is the highest-ranking Jewish elected official in New York City, and said he was proud to be the first to call for a Gaza ceasefire and affirmed that supporting Palestinian human rights through peaceful protest is constitutionally protected. He emphasized that such advocacy should never be grounds for deportation and vowed to defend those targeted for speaking out.
Street Vendors, Deliveristas, and the Fight for Work
Multiple candidates slammed the city’s current approach to its enforcement against immigrant street vendors and delivery workers. Immigrant street vendors on Roosevelt have had their carts crushed by garbage trucks, have been issued summonses and been arrested as a result of the mayor’s crackdown on Roosevelt Avenue in Queens. Asked if they supported such enforcement, Stringer and Speaker Adams said not in the current way that it’s being enforced. “I think Roosevelt Avenue in Queens has to be cleaned up, but I don’t think people should be harassed on the streets,” Stringer said. “I believe that there is a way to work within the boundaries of the law and to protect people’s right to work,” Speaker Adams said.
Despite a reform in 2021 in New York City, under Mayor Eric Adams, there are still thousands of people on a wait list for street vendor permits, and the city has only issued 371 to street vendors. Asked if they support lifting the cap on street vending permits, the candidates answered affirmatively. Brad Lander supported lifting the cap but said the real issue is the city’s failure to issue permits already authorized by law, forcing vendors into a costly black market. He pledged to fix the broken system if elected mayor. Speaker Adams did not comment directly on the issue due to a hearing coming up in the council about the same issue on May 6.
“The attacks that are happening against the street vendors and the delays that are happening in terms of permitting, is because we have allowed a mayor to have a racist approach against communities of color,” Assemblymember Blake said. “Why are we having delays when it comes to permits? It’s because we have an administration that is determined that we don’t want you to have an opportunity to move faster in your communities.”
On delivery worker licensing, Lander said he does not support the proposed legislation to require delivery workers to obtain bike licenses. Instead, he emphasized his record on supporting deliveristas, including sponsoring the city’s first living wage law for them. He proposed targeting illegal moped sellers and requiring gig companies like Uber Eats and DoorDash to be licensed, pay workers fairly, and ensure safety—without penalizing workers trying to earn a living.
Senator Zellnor Myrie agreed: “I don’t think this should be on the backs of individuals trying to make a living and put food on the table.”
Protecting Immigrant Workers from Wage Theft
An estimated 2.1 million workers in New York State are victims of wage theft every year. Many of them are immigrant workers.
“We’ve gotten over $9 million recovered for workers, mostly immigrants who had their wages stolen, and we’re going to be past 10 for sure pretty soon,” said Lander, who also proposed creating the city’s first Mayor’s Office of Workers’ Rights to identify patterns, expand enforcement, and protect workers against expected federal rollbacks.
Senator Myrie said on the State Senate level he supported legislation that would “increase the penalties for Wage Act, and I think that is something that I would continue to advocate for as the next mayor.”
Michael Blake said employers guilty of wage theft should have their licenses revoked and be barred from doing business in New York.
Stringer recounted how, as comptroller, he created a wage recovery program that hired multilingual investigators to help immigrant workers reclaim stolen wages.
Expanding City FHEPS Vouchers
Blake, Stringer, Lander, and Myrie all expressed support for expanding city FHEPS housing vouchers to undocumented residents.
Adams’ Handling of Migrant Crisis
Candidates offered scathing reviews of Mayor Adams’ response to the migrant crisis. “I can’t agree with a criminal,” said Blake.
“Betrayed our city, lied about the causes of the budget crisis, lied about how much needed to be spent, violated people’s rights […] and demonized people,” said Lander, though he acknowledged one bright spot: “The Asylum Seeker Application Help Center, which was a place where people could go to get pro se help filing their asylum and status applications and move towards getting their workplace authorizations. And that is what we should have done for every single person. So I’m not giving him credit, but it was one thing that happened that is what we should be doing.”
Protecting LGBTQ Immigrant Communities
Scott Stringer said the city’s Human Rights Commission is underfunded and ineffective, and should be revamped and resourced like a crisis agency to tackle systemic discrimination. Lander proposed a city-funded authority to protect gender-affirming and reproductive care. Zellnor Myrie framed federal efforts as unconstitutional, saying he has proposed hiring 50 new city lawyers to push back against any federally imposed mandates that discriminate against LGBTQ+ communities or interfere with city policy.
Blake emphasized stronger protections for trans communities of color and warned against public funding for discriminatory institutions. Zohran Mamdani, who joined the forum during its final half-hour, called out institutions for retreating under political pressure and urged the city to leverage tax exemptions to enforce anti-discrimination compliance. “While NYU Langone may be looking at the federal government or some of its largest donors and worrying about the impact, they should also remember the city is one of their biggest donors by allowing them to continue to operate with property tax exemptions,” Mamdani said.
Expanding Healthcare and Childcare Access
Candidates highlighted the need to strengthen healthcare and childcare access, particularly for immigrants. They called for investing in diverse medical education, expanded mental health services, and universal childcare—framing these as essential to both economic stability and immigrant dignity.
“If you want these families to work, then we’ve got to provide the childcare to do it,” said Lander, praising the work that he did with Councilmembers on Promise NYC.
市长参选人访华社 游民所问题成焦点
The candidates — who are all democrats — were mostly aligned in a message that said: in a Trump and Adams landscape, immigrant communities deserve bold, compassionate leadership that delivers and protects them.
Catch up on the livestream of the mayoral forum here.
Correction April 21, 2025: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated there were seven candidates at the forum. We apologize for the error.
