NEW YORK, April 23, (AP): US President Donald Trump’s border czar joined New York City’s mayor on Tuesday to tout new federal charges against 27 people accused of being Tren de Aragua gang members and associates. The joint announcement is the latest example of the close ties between Mayor Eric Adams and the Trump administration, which recently dropped federal corruption charges against the Democrat so he could better focus on the Republican president’s immigration priorities.

Adams is now running for reelection as an independent. Trump, in his nationwide immigration crackdown, has labeled Tren de Aragua an invading force as he invoked the Alien Enemies Act, a little-used statute from 1798 lets the president deport noncitizens 14 years or older who are from a country the US is at war with. "Every member of TDA should be on the run,” declared Thomas Homan, Trump's border czar, referring to the initials of the gang, which originated in Venezuela more than a decade ago and has been linked to a series of kidnappings, extortion and other crimes throughout the Western Hemisphere.

Adams' administration recently announced that it would let federal immigration officials operate at the city’s Rikers Island jail complex - and Homan used the news briefing to take a swipe at a City Council lawsuit seeking to stop the plan. "This is what collaboration looks like,” he said. "I never asked the city or the NYPD to be immigration officers.

I asked them to work with us on significant public safety threats and national security threats, and that’s what we’re committed to doing.” A New York judge ordered city officials on Monday to temporarily halt the plan, which would let Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal agencies establish offices at the massive lockup, until an April 25 hearing on the suit.

Adams said Tuesday’s announcement showed he remains "unapologetic” in his desire to rid the city’s streets of violent immigrant gangs. "The question that we must answer: whose side are you on?” the Democrat said. "Are you on the side of those who are carrying these illegal guns, wreaking havoc, sex trafficking, harming innocent people regardless of their documentation, or are you on the side of hardworking New Yorkers and Americans? I’m clear on which side I’m on.”