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'Profiles in Courage': Four NYC Deputy Mayors to Resign Over Eric Adams' Quid Pro Quo With Trump
"With the resignation of deputy mayors, it has become clear that Mayor Adams has now lost the confidence and trust of his own staff, his colleagues in government, and New Yorkers."
Feb 17, 2025
As news broke Monday that four of New York City Mayor Eric Adams' top deputies plan to resign over the alleged deal Adams made with the Trump administration in order to get his corruption case dismissed, calls mounted for the mayor to end the chaos by stepping down.
First Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer was joined by Meera Joshi and Anne Williams-Isom, who oversee operations and health and human services in the city of more than 8 million people, in a joint statement to their staff Monday announcing that they would step down "due to the extraordinary events of the last few weeks and to stay faithful to the oaths we swore to New Yorkers and our families."
Deputy Mayor Chauncey Parker, who oversees public safety and had been involved in the mayors' plans to cooperate with President Donald Trump's deportation agenda, also announced he would resign. There are eight deputy mayors in all who help manage the city's services.
The resignations by the four deputy mayors come just days after Danielle Sassoon, the acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced her own resignation after U.S. Justice Department officials pressured federal prosecutors to dismiss their indictment of Adams, a Democrat.
The mayor was indicted on charges of bribery, campaign finance violations, and conspiracy offenses last year, with prosecutors accusing him of taking bribes from foreign nationals.
Sassoon wrote in her resignation letter that "Adams' attorneys repeatedly urged what amounted to a quid pro quo, indicating that Adams would be in a position to assist with department's [immigration] enforcement priorities only if the indictment were dismissed."
She said he had plainly offered the Trump administration "immigration enforcement assistance in exchange for a dismissal of his case."
President Donald Trump and his border czar, Thomas Homan, have launched a deportation operation in cities across the country, with Immigration and Customs Enforcement having arrested more than 8,700 people—many of whom had only committed the civil offense of being in the country without the proper documentation.
On Monday, Georgetown University law professor and former ACLU national legal director David Cole said the four deputy mayors were "profiles in courage" for their decision to leave the Adams administration.
Several New York officials said the mass exodus of half of the mayor's top deputies would be calamitous for the government of the country's largest city, and called for the mayor's prompt resignation—or removal.
City Comptroller Brad Lander said he would convene an "Inability Committee" to force Adams out of City Hall, unless he can "provide a contingency plan to the 8 million New Yorkers who rely on city services to function."
City Council member Shahana Hanif called the mass resignation a "clear bellwether" and said New York Gov. Kathy Hochul should take action to remove Adams from office.
The loss of the deputy mayors "would be an unmitigated disaster for the city of New York and everyone in it," said U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), who represents constituents in Queens and The Bronx. "Adams' coercion under Trump risks significant, long-term harm to the people of New York. We cannot afford it. A [hollowed-out] city government is one emergency away from disaster."
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Progressives Won’t Help the Working Class by Abandoning Marginalized Groups
Leaders must reject false choices rooted in the idea that social and economic advancement is a zero-sum game or that working-class people must spar over scraps while all the spoils go to the elite few.
Feb 02, 2025
Since the election, two themes have recurred in analyses of the current political moment: Pundits are calling on progressive political leaders to abandon so-called identity politics and center working-class concerns, and others are defining this election as a potential realignment of political parties.
We and our colleagues at Dēmos are laser-focused on this drumbeat because it strikes at the core of our mission to build a just, inclusive, multi-racial democracy and economy where ordinary people hold power.
Working class is as much an identity as gender, religious affiliation, immigrant status, place, race, and ethnicity. All of us hold multiple identities. But in the political context, “identity politics” is often a dog whistle for Black and brown communities or members of the LGBTQIA+ community. Political leaders and pundits’ calls to deprioritize communities of color and marginalized groups distort the nation’s power dynamic and risk sidelining voices working to build a more equitable society. Such takes also pretend the far-right offers credible solutions to pressing economic issues while minimizing the critical role progressives play in challenging the systems that drive economic inequality. Any critique of movement or “identity politics” without a power analysis misses the forest for the trees.
Average incomes will not increase as more corporations shut down their DEI offices.
Last month, Demos released its Power Scorecard, a data-driven tool that tests our core theory: Political and economic power are inextricably linked, and one is predictive of the other. The tool ranks and measures people power in all 50 states (called a power score) by examining 30 indicators of economic well-being and 30 indicators of civic and democratic vitality. Some economic measures include the percentage of households that can cover everyday costs, avoid debt, maintain stable housing, and access affordable childcare. Measures of civic vitality include voter turnout, percentage of unopposed elections, ease of voting, and descriptive representation in government.
Our findings shed light on how conditions in each state influence the agency and control ordinary people exert in our democracy and economy. Common threads among the highest-ranked states include lower rates of child poverty and incarceration, less concentrated poverty, a greater percentage of workers represented by unions, higher voter turnout rates, and more state checks on corporate contributions to political candidates.
We could not disaggregate data by race for all indicators, but a limited analysis reveals “identity groups” are most disempowered in all states. This is not surprising, and it’s precisely why progressive activists advocate for bold, structural changes such as living wages, access to healthcare as a human right, expanded labor rights and protections, and policies to curb corporate power. And yes, they also call for political leaders to address racial and gender inequalities. Movement activism is rooted in the understanding that economic disparity, systemic racism, and gender inequality are interconnected problems requiring interconnected solutions.
We are aware that opinion polling over the last couple of years continuously revealed voters’ worries about their ability to make ends meet and financially get ahead. Policymakers on all sides of the political spectrum should heed these concerns. But as political leaders assess their messaging failures and policy disconnects, they must avoid the convenience of tunnel vision or public discourse that falsely suggest “identity groups” wield undue or disproportionate influence. Working-class people of all races are constrained by a system in which economic and political power are concentrated in the hands of an elite few.
As much as progressives are agitating to dismantle economic and racial disparities, a well-funded opposition is invested in maintaining a power structure that bends to the will of the wealthy and powerful. The far-right may have successfully tapped into some voters’ frustrations, but their policy proposals will exacerbate economic polarization and diminish ordinary people’s political power. Their standard bearers continue to favor tax cuts for the wealthy, deregulation, weakening unions, and restricting access to the ballot. If progressive political leaders acquiesce to calls to sideline “identity groups,” they will alienate the very movement voices working to address root causes of economic insecurity. Culture wars are a divisive political tactic, not an economic policy solution.
To put a finer point on it, average incomes will not increase as more corporations shut down their DEI offices. Housing will not be more affordable due to mass deportation. Grocery prices will not decline due to state legislation banning transgender people from public bathrooms. And tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations will not and have never trickled down to ordinary people.
Black and brown communities bear a disproportionate share of economic hardship, from unaffordable housing and inflationary pressure on consumer goods to exploitative labor practices. There are historical and ongoing systemic reasons for this disparity—a historical record that the far-right is actively trying to erase with book bans and factually diluted K-12 curriculums. Ignoring these complicated truths in the name of appealing to an idealized working-class voter devoid of any identity is a failing strategy—and the people who will suffer most are working-class voters of all races and identities.
Progressive leaders must reject false choices rooted in the idea that social and economic advancement is a zero-sum game or that working-class people must spar over scraps while all the spoils go to the elite few. Instead, they should amplify the voices of those actively challenging systems that sustain social injustice and vast economic inequality.
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'Resetting of the Goalposts': White House Says All Undocumented Immigrants Are 'Criminals'
"Trump said mass deportation should initially target undocumented criminals," said one journalist. "Now the White House says anyone undocumented is a criminal."
Jan 28, 2025
U.S. President Donald Trump and the Republican Party have frequently suggested that by pushing back against Trump's anti-immigration agenda, Democrats are expressing support for permitting violent criminals to walk free in the United States.
But in the administration's first press briefing on Tuesday, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt admitted Trump's push to deport undocumented immigrants is not targeted at people who have committed violent crimes—instead, anyone who is in the U.S. without authorization will be treated as a criminal and subject to the president's deportation plan.
Peter Alexander of NBC News cited comments from Trump on the campaign trail, when he said undocumented immigrants who are swept up in raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) are "going back home where they belong, and we start with the criminals. There are many, many criminals."
Of the 1,179 undocumented immigrants who were arrested by ICE on Sunday, said Alexander, 566 appeared to have no criminal record aside from entering the country without going through a port of entry—a civil violation that usually results in a fine, not a criminal offense.
Alexander asked if being a violent offender is "no longer the predicate for these people to be deported"—a question Leavitt responded by repeatedly calling undocumented immigrants "illegal criminals" and suggesting people who have committed civil offenses will be treated the same as those who have "terrorized law-abiding American citizens."
"This could be a significant resetting of the goalposts," said Dan Froomkin, editor of Press Watch. "Trump said mass deportation should initially target undocumented criminals. Now the White House says anyone undocumented is a criminal."
Josh Breisblatt, the Democratic chief counsel on the Immigration Subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee, said Leavitt provided a "very helpful reminder for the media and others" regarding Trump's true views on immigration.
"When Republicans talk about 'criminal aliens' they literally mean every undocumented person," said Breisblatt. "Dreamers, [Temporary Protected Status] holders, agricultural workers, people who came lawfully and overstayed a visa, there is no difference to this administration."
Leavitt drove home her point during the press conference by claiming all undocumented immigrants "have invaded our nation's borders" and telling another reporter: "If they broke our nation's laws, yes, they are a criminal."
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick noted on Sunday, as ICE conducted raids in Chicago, that Trump's executive orders on immigration enforcement "do NOT direct ICE to prioritize people with criminal convictions. Instead, they repeatedly make clear that every undocumented immigrant is a top priority."
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