New York City’s powerful teachers union on Wednesday accused Mayor Adams of being “hostage” to the Trump administration over the expected dismissal of the mayor’s corruption case — while local schools and their students pay the price.
In an open letter, United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew said Adams has created a climate of fear among immigrant students, which teachers had to work hard to mollify. But their efforts, the union chief alleged, were upended last week, when a memo dictating how municipal workers should respond to federal immigration enforcement sparked confusion in schools.
“The fact that the Justice Department is holding you hostage on your criminal case does not mean that you are free to ignore your responsibilities to the children and educators of New York City,” read the letter.
“Your memo was a selfish political ploy with New York City students, educators, and school communities left paying the price.”
Adams earlier Wednesday dismissed the notion he was somehow indebted to the Trump White House.
“Look at the record,” Adams said. “Look at what I have done, how I have recovered this city, how we have fought for the safety of everyone in our care. There’s nothing going to change with that.”
On Monday, Trump’s Justice Department instructed federal prosecutors to dismiss the case against the mayor, saying among other reasons that Adams had been restricted from devoting his “full attention and resources” to immigration enforcement.
The feds maintained the right to revisit the case after this year’s mayoral election, sparking concerns a “sanctuary city” mayor would be beholden to Trump’s deportation agenda. As with Mulgrew, the Rev. Al Sharpton, a longtime Adams ally, called the mayor “hostage” to Trump’s demands.
The Law Department’s memo initially authorized city workers to let Immigration and Customs Enforcement into public buildings without a warrant if they “reasonably feel threatened” by the agents. The policy immediately faced criticism that it infringed on local sanctuary laws. City Hall has since both revised the guidance and clarified it does not apply to public schools, but to Mulgrew, the resulting confusion could not be easily fixed.
“It still had a chilling effect on school attendance and on the confidence that New York families should have in their city government,” said Mulgrew, who like Adams is running for re-election this year.
Alison Gendar, a spokeswoman for the UFT, said Mulgrew has been visiting schools with large immigrant populations, and heard from teachers whose students were scared to come to school — fearing enforcement activity in the building or their parents not being home after dismissal.
Attendance at the handful of impacted schools had begun to stabilize in the weeks after Trump’s inauguration, but dipped again as word got around about the memo, she said. The citywide attendance rate on Wednesday was below 86%, compared with an average of 90% last school year.
A rep for Adams said City Hall would review this week’s attendance but cautioned against making inferences from less than a month or a year of data.
“The memo Mr. Mulgrew is referring to does not and has never applied to New York City Public Schools,” Allison Maser, a spokeswoman for the mayor, said in a statement. “It’s unfortunate that this one union boss is choosing to play politics as he spreads fear among the city’s immigrant families with this letter.”
City public school policy remains that ICE agents may not enter without a judicial warrant reviewed by an Education Department attorney.
“Our policies remain the same, and I encourage you to continue to send your children to school,” Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos wrote in a letter to schools Wednesday, posted online and being sent home in children’s backpacks.
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