New York City Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat, has voiced his concerns about the continuous influx of illegal immigrants into the city, warning that it could “destroy” his city.
READ: NYC Mayor Adams Demands Biden’s Aid for Migrant Crisis
More than 110,000 migrants have reportedly entered New York City in the past year. Adams blamed Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R) for busing many of them to New York as part of Operation Lone Star, launched in March 2021 to address the border crisis.
Adams expressed his frustration during a town hall meeting, saying, “What happened? It started with a mad man down in Texas, decided he wanted to bus people up to New York City. One hundred ten thousand migrants. We have to feed, clothe, house, educate the children, wash their laundry sheets, give them everything they need, health care.” He also mentioned that Texas has bused over 35,000 migrants to sanctuary cities across the nation, including more than 13,300 to New York City since August 2022.
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The mayor criticized the lack of federal assistance in dealing with the crisis. “Month after month I stood up and said this is gonna come to a neighborhood near you. Well, we’re here, we’re getting no support on this national crisis, and we’re receiving no support,” Adams stated. He further warned that the situation would impact every service in the city and predicted a $12 billion deficit.
Adams noted that the city was previously seeing mostly Venezuelan illegal immigrants but is now witnessing a surge from different parts of the globe. “Now we’re seeing Equator, now we’re getting Russian speaking coming through Mexico, now we getting Western Africa, now we getting people from all over the globe have made their minds up that they gonna come through the southern part of the border and come to New York City,” he said.
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Despite being a sanctuary city that protects immigrants, Adams believes that the situation will affect every New Yorker. “We had a $12 billion deficit that we’re going to have to cut. Every service in this city is going to be impacted. All of us,” he said. “It’s going to come to your neighborhoods. All of us are going to be impacted by this. I said it last year when we had 15,000. I’m telling you now with 110,000. The city we knew we’re about to lose. And we’re all in this together.”
In response to critics of his handling of the crisis, Adams challenged them to contribute to solving the problem. “Tell me what role you played. How many of you have organized to stop what they’re doing to us?” he asked.
