From Texas border, New York mayor vows to pressure U.S. government over migrants
Eric Adams, New York City’s Mayor, visited El Paso (Texas) over the weekend. He stated that he and other municipal leaders would be working together to press the federal government to help with the migrant crisis.
Adams arrived in El Paso Saturday evening to participate in a 24-hour fact finding mission hosted by Oscar Leseer (a fellow Democrat). Adams warned that more than 40,000 migrants have crossed the border from El Paso to New York City over the past year.
He pledged to form a coalition of mayors in similar circumstances during a Sunday press conference.
Adams stated, “I knew it was the right time, not to try and solve this problem from the cities, but to come into interaction with the mayors across America.” “This has fallen upon our cities. Now I’m going to coordinate the mayors from across the country to ask: “How can we directly respond to this?”
|
Adams will be in Washington, D.C., next week to raise the issue at the United States Conference of Mayors.
It is not clear if the Senate, Congress, or President Joe Biden will respond to this emerging coalition.
Last year, the city spent $366million on services for asylum seekers. Adams anticipates that this figure will rise to $2 billion by June. New York City received $8 million from Federal Emergency Management Agency, and $2 million from Senate Majority leader Chuck Schumer.
This is a national emergency. FEMA is responsible for national crises. Adams stated that FEMA needs to step up and have one coordinator who coordinates all activities relating to migrants and asylum seekers in the country.
The first stop for the mayor on Saturday night was at a razor-wire-topped chain-link fence that is frequently used as a border crossing point. Leeser took Adams to a section of the city that asylum seekers sleep on the streets. Adams met with El Paso’s mayor the next day and visited a church that offers services to migrants. Adams and Manuel Castro, his Immigrant Affairs Commissioner, met with asylum seekers outside before visiting a county office, which connects migrants to various programs and a processing center run by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency.
According to the mayor, misinformation has brought many migrants to the five boroughs.
Adams stated that websites advertise that New York City streets are paved with golden, and that people can automatically find employment. Adams added that they will be living in hotels. “There is a conversation between asylum seekers and migrants that gives the false impression that everything is okay if they come to New York City.”
Some migrants are housed in hotels and group shelters in the city.
He said that others were attracted to New York City by the fact they had seen him on television.
“We spoke with some people and they said, Why are we coming to New York? Adams stated, “We saw you on television.”
Adams stated that El Paso organizations tell new arrivals that the reality is very different.
Adams stated, “They are really explaining to people that these is what’s occurring in New York right now.” “In New York, when you go there, it’s going to be congregate settings. There is no room in New York.”
Lori Lightfoot of Chicago, the Mayor, was among those who recently criticised Colorado Gov. Jared Polis praised Adams’s visit to the border for his migrant-busing policy.
Lightfoot tweeted Sunday, “Yesterday @NYCMayor went to the border to raise awareness about how the migrant crises is affecting cities like New York, Chicago and Washington, D.C.” She wrote that she agreed wholeheartedly that Mayor Adams is facing a national crisis and that a solution must be found.
However, the Progressives are back in New York City.
There are many ways to ask for the help Washington & Albany needs. The mayor’s trip in Texas doesn’t deliver the $$ NYC requires to provide shelter and services, City Comptroller Brad Lander tweeted. It risks reinforcing the negative narrative that new immigrants are a problem.
Make the Road New York is an immigrant advocacy group that criticized Adams for his threats of budget cuts due to the cost of asylum seekers. He also said that he could have done more to address the problem back home.
Jose Lopez, Co-Executive Director, stated that Mayor Adams’ grandstanding at the border is not what New York City needs. Instead of trying to be a ‘national politician,’ the mayor should instead be in New York, focused on the real problems facing New Yorkers, including affordable housing, homelessness, and access to services for all.
Adams said that he would meet with other mayors in the country to discuss the issue on Sunday.
He said, “Today it’s El Paso.” “Tomorrow they could be their cities,” he said.
