On Wednesday, Jamaican-American New York Metropolis Mayoral Candidate, the Rev. Michael Blake, condemned a federal decide’s dismissal of corruption fees in opposition to New York Metropolis Mayor Eric Adams.
On Wednesday, Manhattan Federal Choose Dale Ho dismissed “with prejudice” the sweeping public corruption fees in opposition to Adams, ruling that “There might or might not be good causes to drop this prosecution. However the causes articulated by DOJ (President Donal J. Trump’s Division of Justice), if taken at face worth, are inconsistent with a call to go away the costs within the Indictment hanging just like the proverbial Sword of Damocles over the mayor.”
However Rev. Blake, the son of Jamaican immigrants, informed Caribbean Life, “The dropping of the costs in opposition to Eric Adams doesn’t change the apparent: Eric Adams possible broke the regulation with an unlawful marketing campaign donation pay-to-play scheme.
“He’s simply being saved by a Trump Justice Division that expects him to be their lackey,” stated Blake, one among potential 9 candidates vying to oppose the mayor within the June Democratic Main.
“Choose Ho bowing to King Trump by dropping fees is the most recent assault on our perception in authorities,” he added. “We want judges who will demand accountability—not flip a blind eye to blatant corruption.
“The timing will not be a shock, on condition that it’s the day earlier than MAGA Eric must resolve if he’s nonetheless working as a Democrat,” Rev. Blake continued. “As soon as once more, Trump and Elon (Musk) are attempting to avoid wasting Eric.
“Trump continues creating authorized chaos and worry — not hope or order,” he stated. “At this time is the most recent reminder that we desperately want a brand new technology of Black management.”
New York Metropolis Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, who has no relations with the mayor, stated Choose Ho’s resolution “doesn’t absolve Mayor Adams of his actions.
“It additionally doesn’t finish the chaos and disgrace this has introduced on our metropolis with different ongoing prison instances and investigations of the mayor’s workplace,” stated Speaker Adams, who is predicted to be among the many mayor’s challengers within the June Main. “As Choose Ho said in his ruling, ‘Every little thing right here smacks of a cut price: Dismissal of the indictment in change for immigration coverage concessions.’
“Our metropolis’s mayor ought to by no means be within the place of bargaining away New Yorkers and their rights,“ she stated. “The extraordinary resolution was solely brought on by the quid professional quo tried between the Trump administration and Eric Adams.
“It sends a horrible message and is a obvious instance of double requirements in our justice system, the place the highly effective evade accountability that’s typically confronted by the common particular person,“ Speaker Adams added. “This undermines equal justice underneath the regulation that must be a pillar of our justice system.
“New Yorkers deserve robust, unbiased, and targeted management that received’t bend or cower to Trump and Elon Musk,“ she continued. “Defending our metropolis and dealing households from their assaults have to be our high precedence, with out the distractions and instability which have compromised this administration.”
On Wednesday, Choose Ho dismissed the costs in opposition to Adams “with prejudice,” that means they can’t be refiled sooner or later.
In early February, Trump’s DOJ instructed the Southern District Courtroom of New York to drop the case against the mayor, saying it affected his skill to cooperate with Trump’s sweeping deportation insurance policies and seek reelection.
However, in his ruling on Wednesday, Choose Ho stated that “the file doesn’t present that this case has impaired Mayor Adams in his immigration enforcement efforts.”
Final month, Caribbean immigration advocates strongly condemned Adams’s look earlier than the US Congressional Committee on Oversight amid heightened requires his resignation over reported collusion with Trump over mass deportations.
Adams and three different mayors of “sanctuary cities“—Chicago, Boston, and Denver—testified earlier than the Committee.
“In at the moment’s Congressional listening to on sanctuary cities, we noticed additional proof that Eric Adams is unfit to steer New York Metropolis,“ Murad Awawdeh, president and CEO of the New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC), an umbrella group that represents over 200 immigrant advocacy teams in New York, informed Caribbean Life on the time.
“Even on this sham listening to – which was largely a chance for extremist MAGA Republicans to spew hate and distortions about immigration – the mayor’s skill to steer the town was repeatedly questioned,“ he added. “We didn’t count on to study a lot from this spectacle, however as Congress members questioned Eric Adams, we hardly ever acquired previous the controversy of if he entered a quid professional quo settlement with the Trump administration.
“As a substitute of going to bat for all New Yorkers, Adams as soon as once more stood up for himself and himself alone,“ Awawdeh continued. “We commend the Mayors of Boston, Chicago, and Denver for standing up for his or her metropolis’s residents and for selling sanctuary insurance policies that guarantee public security for all.“
Natalia Aristizabal of Make the Highway Motion, one other immigrant advocacy group in New York, stated: “Again and again, Mayor Adams has proven that he’s extra fascinated by cozying as much as the Trump administration’s mass deportation agenda than defending everybody in New York Metropolis.
“As a substitute of exhibiting management and standing up for our immigrant communities, the mayor is promoting out immigrant households in an effort to salvage his personal political profession,“ she stated.
As calls intensified for the mayor to step down, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul proposed new actions to revive public belief within the New York Metropolis authorities.
Hochul introduced sweeping growth of state oversight and new guardrails to make sure what she described as “accountability“ and the safety of New Yorkers.
Nonetheless, the governor famous that these actions would require legislative motion and that they would take impact instantly upon passage.
“To maneuver this metropolis ahead, I am enterprise the implementation of sure guardrails that I consider are a primary begin towards re-establishing belief for New York Metropolis residents,“ Hochul stated. “These proposed guardrails will assist be certain that all selections out of Metropolis Corridor are within the clear pursuits of the individuals of New York Metropolis and never on the behest of the president.”
She introduced the institution of a brand new Particular Inspector Normal for New York Metropolis Affairs and Safety of Metropolis Commissioner of Investigation.
The governor stated the brand new Particular Inspector Normal for New York Metropolis Affairs might be established inside the New York State Inspector Normal Workplace.
She stated the Particular Inspector Normal for New York Metropolis Affairs will obtain updates and data immediately from the New York Metropolis Division of Investigations (NYCDOI) about corruption investigations. She may even be capable to direct NYCDOI to begin investigations throughout metropolis authorities.
Hochul stated the New York Metropolis Constitution might be revised to make sure her continued independence. The Mayor can not terminate the New York Metropolis Commissioner of Investigation with out approval by the State Inspector Normal.
Below the governor’s plan, the Metropolis Comptroller, Council, and Public Advocate might be given “express authority“ to convey litigation in opposition to the federal authorities, utilizing exterior counsel if the town’s regulation division declines to take action promptly after a request.
Hochul stated such litigation could possibly be filed in opposition to any federal authorities company or entity.
“This motion will be certain that New Yorkers have a number of avenues to provoke authorized motion in instances the place the rights or freedoms of New York Metropolis residents are underneath assault by the federal authorities,“ she stated.
Given the unprecedented breadth and variety of government orders, different coverage paperwork, and notices issued by the Trump administration, the governor proposed extra funds for the Workplace of the State Comptroller of the Metropolis to help the state’s present skill to proceed to watch the town and its funds “on this complicated surroundings.“
She stated the state will develop the Workplace of the Deputy State Comptroller for Metropolis Oversight and that the brand new funding will be paid utilizing New York Metropolis tax receipts.
“These new assets will allow state officers to extra carefully monitor New York Metropolis’s fiscal operations and to take any actions wanted based mostly on such assessment,“ Hochul stated.
In response, Adams stated in a quick assertion that he “was elected by the individuals of New York Metropolis and its working-class communities to uphold their values — and that’s what our administration has executed.
“Whereas there isn’t a authorized foundation for limiting New Yorkers’ energy by limiting the authority of my workplace, I’ve informed the governor, as we’ve got executed previously, that I am keen to work along with her to make sure religion in our authorities is powerful,“ he stated. “I sit up for persevering with these conversations.”
Nonetheless, Awawdeh stated that “New York Metropolis, underneath Mayor Eric Adams, is beholden to Donald Trump’s calls for.
“No new checks that New York State might impose on New York Metropolis will repair that difficulty,“ he informed Caribbean Life. “Eric Adams bought out New Yorkers to keep away from prosecution for corruption fees in a quid professional quo cope with the Trump administration, plain and easy.
“Now, he’s working with the Trump administration to separate households in New York Metropolis in direct violation of our native sanctuary insurance policies,“ Awawdeh added. “All New Yorkers will face actual and dire penalties from Gov. Hochul’s refusal to carry the mayor accountable for his actions.
“The individuals won’t stay silent within the face of the risk posed by Eric Adams to immigrant New Yorkers,“ he continued.
Amid Adams’s collusion with Trump, Caribbean and different immigrant advocates in New York have urged the town workforce to not collude with ICE brokers.
“At a time when New Yorkers can not depend on their mayor to comply with the regulation, others within the Adams administration should step up,“ Awawdeh urged. “Mayor Adams might view his personal participation in Trump’s mass deportation agenda as a get out of jail free card, however the actions he might be directing his subordinates to take to collude with ICE are each legally doubtful and morally corrupt.
“We’re calling on all remaining deputy mayors, metropolis company commissioners, and metropolis employees inside the Adams administration to not adjust to any orders to collaborate with ICE from this mayor, who stays compromised in his skill to place the wants and the security of New Yorkers forward of his personal,“ he added.
Mayor Adams stated in a Wednesday video message to New Yorkers: “Let me be clear. As I’ve stated all alongside, this case ought to have by no means been introduced. And I did nothing mistaken.
“I’m now pleased that our metropolis can lastly shut the ebook on this and focus solely on the way forward for our nice metropolis,“ he stated. “I need to thank New Yorkers who stood by my facet, prayed for me, supported me from day one, and caught with me whereas we targeted on the work at hand.
“I additionally need to apologize to New Yorkers for having to go by this with me, a baseless case that ought to have by no means been introduced within the first place,“ the mayor added. “The lies unfold by false leaks and splashed throughout sensational headlines and all the distractions.
“However what I need you to know is that I by no means cease working for you, not for in the future, not for one hour, not for one minute, since you are who I take into consideration each morning. You’re my north star,“ he continued.
