New York Mayor Eric Adams says he does not support mass deportations but made clear Tuesday in a press conference, that the immigration system is broken.
The mayor said he is willing to work with the White House to try and fix it.
The questions have dogged Mayor Adams for the past seven days.
Nearly 500,000 undocumented immigrants are in New York City. Some, have lived here for decades.
"What's your position, sir? Should the city cooperate?" Eyewitness News reporter N.J. Burkett asked during a press conference.
Adams told reporters that what matters most is securing the border.
"Fix immigration so that no city will have to go through what I went through," Adams said.
"You are the mayor, and the city will have decisions to make. Do you think that people need to know where you stand on this?" Burkett asked.
"Yes, very clear: I'm not a supporter of mass deportation. I am a supporter of making sure our borders are secure, that whomever is paroled into this country has a pathway to employment so they could provide for themselves. This is inhumane! This is inhumane," Adams said.
The mayor acknowledged that he must uphold the city's Sanctuary City laws, largely shielding undocumented immigrants from Immigration agents.
Speaking on Fox News, Trump's incoming 'Border Czar' made this prediction, if the city does not cooperate.
"We may have to double the number of agents we send to New York City because we're going to do the job," Tom Homan said.
Jumaane Williams, the city's Public Advocate, accuses Adams of selling out.
"This mayor seems willing to either stand alongside Trump, or to look the other way in the face of an agenda that harms the same people that the mayor claims to represent," Williams said.
Speaking on Tiempo, to air on Sunday, New York's immigration commissioner said the city's immigrant community has a more immediate problem.
"We saw this eight years ago. People immediately stop sending their children to school, stop going to emerging emergency services, medical services, stopped going to the police for support. We want to mitigate that," Manuel Castro, Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs said.
Mayor Adams did not say how the city would push back against any large-scale deportations.
Any change to the Sanctuary City laws, he said, would have to come from the City Council.
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