In a live Memorial Day interview on 77 WABC’s “Cats & Cosby,” New York City Mayor Eric Adams reflected on the legacy of Congressman Charlie Rangel and announced plans for a major ticker-tape parade on July 6, 2026, to honor post-9/11 veterans. Adams emphasized the importance of remembering America’s greatness and addressed public safety concerns, highlighting recent actions against violent undocumented gang members. He reaffirmed his commitment to working with federal, state, and local agencies to keep the city safe and urged state lawmakers to strengthen support for law enforcement efforts.
Mayor Adams Calls In For Live Interview On 77 WABC’s “Cats & Cosby”
Rita Cosby: And everybody, breaking news. And joining us now is New York City Mayor Eric Adams. Mr. Mayor, so great to have you here on such an important day. You know, we’re first off, we are talking about Charlie Rangel, and I know you love Charlie just as much as we did.
Mayor Eric Adams: Yes. No, so true. When I heard David, the governor, talking about his legacy, and they called him the Lion of Lenox Avenue, he was just such a powerful, powerful representative for the Harlem community and parts of Manhattan and in the Bronx.
And we’re going to miss him, but it is the natural circle of life, and he lived his life in a very full state. He just recently lost the love of his life, his wife, and now he has joined her. We are always going to remember him, and he was a great patriot, served in the Korean War, I think left as a staff sergeant, and was highly decorated. Just an amazing story and amazing life.
Cosby: Yeah, he certainly was. You know, I know, obviously, today is Memorial Day. Your thoughts about how important this day is, and also, I know, I love this, that you’re planning the Homecoming of Heroes ticker tape parade, Mr. Mayor. This is wonderful.
Mayor Adams: Yes, July 6th of 2026, we’re going to be honoring our post-9/11 veterans and those who gave the ultimate sacrifice. Over 2 million Americans participated in the post-9/11 mission, and we want to acknowledge them as they are deserving.
And as I moved around today, I constantly reminded people of the saying, never forget, never to forget. And that’s often equated with a terrible and painful moment, but I would like to reverse it. We should never forget how great our country is.
We should never forget the number of scientists that have solved global problems. Never forget that many people come here to pursue the American dream, and they are able to do so. Never forget that, in hundreds of years, we only had a major conflict on our soil, and that was Pearl Harbor, when we saw that on 9/11, when our center of trade was attacked.
But we should never forget that this is the greatest country on the globe. And one way you don’t forget is by constantly having that brain muscle exercising. We need to do things daily to remind people that America has the greatest product on the globe.
And no one is aligning our borders to leave our country, they’re aligning our borders to come in. And we should remember that when you have the radicalization of our children on college campuses, telling them to hate America, when you are seeing people marching on streets talking about the destruction of America.
America has made it possible for not only those who are on our soil, but we’ve made it possible for people in other countries. And we should never forget that, and not allow anyone to tell us that we are not the greatest country on the globe.
Cosby: Absolutely. Absolutely.
John Catsimatidis: Mayor Adams, it’s John Catsimatidis. The status of keeping our city safe, I understand President Trump wants to keep our city safe, Tom Homan wants to keep our city safe, Eric Adams wants to keep our city safe. I understand a lot of the criminals are hiding because of Tom Homan. Can you give us a comment on that?
Mayor Adams: Well, I think that when we talk about safety, it’s both documented and undocumented. It’s about keeping us safe. We saw what happened to one of our heroic officers while he was off duty, an individual stomped him and caused serious injuries to him. I went and saw him yesterday.
We will always collaborate with our federal partners, HSI, ICE, FBI, any other state or local agency in going after those who commit crimes in general, but specifically those crimes that we’re talking about, those gang members who are undocumented, they have carried out some very violent acts on not only undocumented people, but our law enforcement community, as we saw.
We took down 27 gang members in collaboration with HSI and ICE. Those gang members were forcing migrants into sex trafficking. They were committing robberies. They were committing other dangerous acts. And so, we don’t believe that they should remain in our country after they serve their time.
They should be deported. They should not be allowed to stay here. We’ve abdicated their rights to be in our country when you inflict violence on innocent people. We will continue to partner with our federal, state, and city agencies to go after people who are committing crimes.
Catsimatidis: Mayor Adams, we support you 110 percent. I tell people that these criminals– we want to get rid of the criminals, the murderers, and that these people are hiding because they’re going to get deported directly to Guantanamo. Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200.
Mayor Adams: The goal is to protect innocent, hard-working residents of this city. No one should be a victim of the violence that those who believe they’re going to inflict it on us.
It is imperative that our partners in Albany also assist us and the City Council. Some of these laws are not helpful, they’re harmful. We should be clear that there should be no roadblocks to ensure that this city remains the safest big city in America.
Cosby: Absolutely.
Catsimatidis: I don’t know if Governor Hochul has signed off yet, but Governor Paterson and Governor Pataki have told Governor Hochul it’s time to put her foot down.
Mayor Adams: Well said, and I’ve said it over and over again, and I think that no one knows this history better of public safety than Governor Paterson and what he did while he was not only the governor, but the minority leader in the city. He has always been an advocate for our cities being safe, and I joined that advocacy.
Cosby: Well, Mr. Mayor, thank you for being here. By the way, you brought up just about, just the country. My dad was a prisoner of war who was saved by American troops, so God bless America on this day, and I’m so glad you’re honoring America and everything you’re doing to honor our great military. The best in the world, Mr. Mayor.
Mayor Adams: Thank you very much.
May 26, 2025 New York City Hall, Manhattan
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