With New York City enduring the largest impact of the nation’s migrant crisis, Mayor Eric Adams was expected to be a focus of the House oversight hearing on so-called sanctuary cities.
But throughout the contentious session on Wednesday, Mr. Adams was treated like a sideshow, his discomfort visible.
The toughest treatment the mayor, a Democrat who was indicted on federal corruption charges, received was from his fellow party members. Three called for his resignation. Several grilled him over whether he had agreed to a quid pro quo with the Trump administration that would allow his criminal case to be dropped if he cooperates with the president’s immigration crackdown.
“There’s no deal,” Mr. Adams said. “No quid pro quo. And I did nothing wrong.”
Republican lawmakers were far kinder, with some, including the committee chair, James Comer, noting Mr. Adams’s willingness “to work with ICE on detaining the most criminal illegals, and I want to publicly thank you for that.”
And when Representative Robert Garcia, Democrat of California, asked Mr. Adams if he had sold out New Yorkers by cooperating with Tom Homan, Mr. Trump’s so-called border czar, Mr. Homan came to the mayor’s defense on social media.
Mr. Homan called such assertions “simply disgusting,” adding that Mr. Adams was “trying to protect New Yorkers from violent illegal aliens” and that “by working with ICE, lives will be saved.”
The mayor faced a delicate balancing act at the hearing. As a Democrat who faces a challenging re-election bid this year, Mr. Adams was most likely trying to avoid the appearance of being beholden to Mr. Trump, while not saying anything that would anger the president.
But there was nothing nuanced about how the Democrats on the panel viewed Mr. Adams.
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, a fierce critic of Mr. Adams, confronted him at the hearing and raised concerns about the quid pro quo accusations and his efforts to dodge her questions.
“This right here is the four-alarm fire that everyone must be paying attention to,” she said.
Representative Dave Min, Democrat of California, pressed Mr. Adams to resign, and questioned why he had not done so already. Mr. Garcia also called for him to step down for “selling New Yorkers out.”
“I personally agree with a majority of New Yorkers and think, Mr. Mayor, that you should resign,” Mr. Garcia said. “You should do the right thing: You should step down and resign today.”
As Mr. Adams was questioned about his conversations with Mr. Trump and his administration, a lawyer who was seated behind him repeatedly intervened and privately offered advice. Mr. Adams said he could not discuss any details while Judge Dale Ho was making a decision about his criminal case.
Although Mr. Adams told the panel that his criminal defense lawyer was Alex Spiro, he was accompanied by a different lawyer from the legal firm Norton Rose. The lawyer, who sat behind Mr. Adams, was hired by the city to represent its interests, according to the mayor’s office.
Before the hearing began, Democrats held a rally outside City Hall in Manhattan to express support for immigrants. Adrienne Adams, the City Council speaker who is considering running for mayor against Mr. Adams, said the mayor should do more to protect immigrants.
“It is a shame that we all must be standing here this morning,” she said. “We should have a mayor who understands what makes New York City special.”
Mr. Adams told reporters before the hearing that his views on immigration were not influenced by Mr. Trump.
“There are those that are going to try to attempt to state that the life that I’ve lived is based on a new administration — it is not,” he said, adding: “Three things stay on my mind all the time: public safety, public safety, public safety.”
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