NYC Mayor Eric Adams has claimed that there is “no more room” to host illegal immigrants in the Big Apple.
Speaking during a virtual Politico event on Wednesday that took place alongside the US Conference of Mayors in Washington DC, Adams told the news site’s Sally Goldenberg that “we’re at that point” where there is now “no more room” to host the massive influx of illegal immigrants and asylum seekers that have made their way over to New York City.
“At the same time we’re going to continue to do our moral and legal obligation,” Adams added. “Whoever comes to the city – you’re not seeing individuals sleeping on the streets with families – because we’re continuing to pivot and shift as needed.”
Around 40,200 illegal immigrants have made their way to NYC since the spring of last year, with 29,600 of them being housed by the city in shelters. Even more continue to arrive, with a record 835 being seen in one day this month.
With his declaration that there is “no more room” for illegal migrants, Adams continues his pivot away from the formerly pro-mass migration message he made during the campaign, when he had argued that “New York City is, and has always been, a City of immigrants.”
In 2019, Adams tweeted that NYC would “ALWAYS stand up to [President Trump] and call out his cynical plots to divide our country. To anyone in the world fleeing hatred and oppression, the ultimate city of immigrants wants you to remember: you’re ALWAYS welcome here.”
Only last year, Adams said that helping illegal immigrants was a “real burden on New Yorkers” who “already have an overburdened shelter system” that the new arrivals are filling up. “Now we’re talking about food, clothing, school. This is going to impact our schools because we do not turn away individuals because they are undocumented.”
Adams made a similar comment about the lack of room in NYC when he made an extraordinary visit to the southern border in El Paso over the weekend, calling on the Biden administration to “do its job,” which he reiterated on Wednesday.
“The White House must ensure the immediate needs, that cities that are impacted receive the support they deserve,” Adams told Goldenberg, confirming that he would be joining other mayors in pressuring the Biden administration to do something about the issue, especially given that it’s playing out in Washington DC itself, headed by Mayor Muriel Bowser.
Adams has also called on his Democrat colleague, New York Governor Kathy Hochul for help with the crisis. Earlier this month, he filed an “emergency mutual aid” request to house 500 migrants immediately, later suggesting that spreading the immigrants around in the rest of New York state could help out “struggling” cities.
Image: Marc A. Hermann / MTA
“Some of our cities are suffering. They’re losing populations,” Adams told the New York Post on Sunday. “But if this is done, is done effectively, and the dollars come in to support those who are helping migrants and asylum seekers to incentivize this help, we believe we can… help those cities that are struggling and at the same time, give people a good start in this country.”
However, Hochul seems to be less than keen to assist Adams in his quest, accepting none of his proposals, along with making absolutely no mention of the migration crisis during her “State of the State” speech earlier this month, claiming that it simply wasn’t relevant to anyone living outside of NYC.
“In my State of the State, there’s hundreds of other proposals for talking about. I was focusing on my key signature areas that have broad, statewide interest — housing, mental health challenges, the child care and the minimum wage,” Hochul said last week.
Robert Holden, a Democrat city Councilman from Queens, said that Hochul was “asleep at the wheel on the migrant issue,” and that she’s “got to wake up” from her inaction.
“My Democratic colleagues haven’t stepped up – in the city and state – they haven’t come up with any demands on the migrant crisis,” Holden said, adding that she should be “visiting Washington along with other governors and forcing Biden to come up with some meaningful solution.”
This news and commentary by Jack Hadfield originally appeared on Valiant News.
