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 , seven 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…