Migrant crisis 'will destroy NYC,' Mayor Adams asserts
NEW YORK CITY - Mayor Adams laying it on the line and making his most dire prediction yet on the migrant crisis.
He spoke during a town hall meeting Wednesday night on the Upper West Side which is one of the most progressive, liberal areas of the city and he did not get any pushback.
"Let me tell you something, New Yorkers. Never in my life have I had a problem that I did not see an ending to. I don't see an ending to this," Adams said.
The mayor said more than 110,000 migrants have arrived in the city in the past year. He railed against President Biden for failing to help the city and control the border.
"One time we were just getting Venezuela. Now we get Ecuador. Now we get Russian-speaking coming through Mexico. Now we're getting western Africa. Now we're getting people from all over the globe who have made their minds up that they're going to come through the southern part of the border and come to New York City," Adams said.
He says the crisis is financially crippling.
"We have to feed, clothe, house, educate the children, wash their laundry sheets, give them everything they need, health care," Adams said.
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NYC migrant crisis: Adams calls for policy changes as asylum seekers continue to arrive
The Adams administration is continuing its call to change the city's right-to-shelter policy as migrants and asylum seekers continue to stream into the city.
"If the state and the federal government aren't paying attention, they're going to lose voters over this crisis," warned Basil Smikle, PhD, the director of the Public Policy Program at Hunter College and a Democratic strategist.
That's something Smikle says Democrats cannot afford as the party tries to regain power in Congress.
"It may cost Democrats in the state seats that they desperately need to retake the House," Smikle said. "Eric Adams makes these comments because he thinks it will create more support for him and New York. What it might do is give Republicans an opening to use these comments against him and against other Democrats running. They're going to take his comments, put it in a commercial, put it in literature."