NEW YORK — For most Democrats, criticizing former President Donald Trump over his anti-immigrant rhetoric would seem like standard practice.
For New York Mayor Eric Adams — who once said the cost of the migrant crisis would “destroy” his city — it seemed on Tuesday to be his defense.
Adams blasted the former president for remarks over the weekend in which the Republican said immigrants were “poisoning the blood of our country.”
Trump’s comments were “very volatile terminology, rhetoric,” Adams said at a press conference in City Hall. “I’m not spewing rhetoric. I’m advocating for the city that I love. And I’m watching firsthand what is happening to the city that I love, and I protected as a police officer.”
The moment underscored the difficult spot Adams is in as he navigates an influx of asylum-seekers, on whom he has blamed the city’s myriad problems. The mayor has repeatedly criticized President Joe Biden’s handling of the situation.
As Trump’s claim drew an Adolf Hitler comparison from the White House, one New York Republican pointed to Adams in defending the former president.
“When [Trump] said ‘they are poisoning,’ I think he was talking about the Democratic policies. I think he was talking about the open border policy,” Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y.) said on CNN Monday night. “And if you look at what my mayor, our mayor here in New York City is saying, that this migrant crisis is destroying New York City, I think it’s pretty much the same thing.”
Trump was clearly referring to people from other countries, not American policies. But Malliotakis was correctly describing Adams’ comment in September that the cost of housing and serving migrants seeking asylum “ will destroy New York City . … The city we knew, we’re about to lose.”
Many Democrats are trying to balance unequivocal condemnation of Trump with their continued criticism of Biden’s handling of the situation, namely what they deem inadequate financial support for cities and states.
“This issue — substantively and politically — is really hard and I do not envy the position the mayor is in,” said Alyssa Cass, a Democratic communications consultant who worked on the opposing mayoral campaign of Andrew Yang.
Political strategist Claudia Granados called Trump’s comments “absolutely racist,” and added: “But I think what’s happening is this influx of immigrants that’s taking over cities that have no capacity to house anybody — it’s the perfect storm that’s made everybody even more upset about things that have been happening since the pandemic.”
Adams has leaned into that anger, leading calls for more White House aid that have irritated the Biden administration but have been echoed by fellow Democrats like Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson.
Pritzker’s team, too, was quick to denounce the Republican contender’s words.
“Trump’s reprehensible rhetoric is nothing new. Repeatedly, he has harkened back to Nazi Germany in an effort to sow division and spread hate throughout this country. Let me be clear — those who use their pulpit to spread to anti-immigrant, antisemitic, Islamophobic, and anti-LGBTQ sentiments do not deserve to serve the public and they must be defeated,” Pritzker spokesperson Alex Gough said in a statement to POLITICO.
This is not the first time Trump has voiced anti-immigrant words. In 2018, he reportedly asked legislative leaders why the United States would want immigrants from “shithole” countries, for one example.
But Trump was the president then, running for reelection, and Democrats could denounce his immigration policies wholesale with limited political complications. Now, Trump is a presidential candidate challenging Biden, whose handling of the border crisis has received low marks across the board .
Across the country from Adams’ City Hall, California positioned itself as the epicenter of liberal resistance during the Trump presidency — with officials pushing back forcefully against the president’s anti-immigrant posture. The centerpiece was a sanctuary state law, which limited local law enforcement cooperation with federal immigration officials.
Anthony Rendon, who was California State Assembly speaker at the time, said it is now more difficult for Democrats to respond — not necessarily because immigration politics in the state have become more volatile, but because voters have numbed to the outrage over Trump’s rhetoric.
In 2016, “to hear a national political leader talk that way was shocking,” said Rendon, who still represents a Los Angeles-area Assembly seat. “Now I think everybody is like, ‘yeah the guy is a racist — so what? There’s nothing new. What are you doing about the economy? What are you doing about crime? What are you doing about my kids’ schools?’ The shock value has worn off.”
But Trump’s new comments could actually give local Democratic leaders an opening on an issue that’s been hurting the party in the polls.
“Most humans would not use words like ‘poisoning the blood of the country,’” said Peter Ragone, a Democratic strategist who’s worked in New York and California. Biden’s campaign can say that there’s disagreement within the party, but it is working on the difficult issue of immigration. But with Trump, Ragone said, “that rhetoric should be disqualifying for anyone.”
Melanie Mason, Shia Kapos and Emily Ngo contributed to this report.
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