'We Are at Capacity': NYC Mayor Eric Adams Wraps up Four-Day South America Trip
Do you agree with the state of emergency declaration?
Updated Oct. 11, 2023, 9:35 a.m. PST
- New York City Mayor Eric Adams traveled to Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, and the Darien Gap during a four-day tour to discourage migrants from coming to his city, telling them, "We are at capacity."
- He also said: “We are neighbors. We are familia. Mi casa es su casa. Your struggles are my struggles,” highlighting the often contradictory challenges Adams faces.
- Adams said:
“We’re going to tell them that coming to New York doesn’t mean you’re going to stay in a five-star hotel. It doesn’t mean that, the mere fact that you come here, you automatically are going to be allowed to work.”
- He continued:
“There is no more room in New York. Our hearts are endless, but our resources are not. We don’t want to put people in congregate shelters. We don’t want people to think they will be employed.”
- Speaking in Colombia, Adams argued that migrants already in the city should have the right to work and has been calling on the federal government to speed up work authorizations:
“Nothing is more humane and, nothing is more American than your right to work, and we believe that is a right we should extend.”
- Adams has also asked a judge to suspend the “right to shelter” rule that requires the city to provide shelter to anyone who requests it, citing the influx of migrants as an unforeseen humanitarian crisis. The shelter requirement has been in place since 1981.
- Adams said:
“With more than 122,700 asylum seekers having come through our intake system since the spring of 2022, and projected costs of over $12 billion for three years, it is abundantly clear that the status quo cannot continue. New York City cannot continue to do this alone.”
Updated Sept. 11, 2023, 2:03 p.m. PST
- New York City Mayor Eric Adams has sounded the alarm on the strains that migration is placing on the city, arguing that the busloads of migrants being sent up from Southern states are pushing the city to the limit of its budget and resources.
- At a town-hall-style meeting on Sept. 6, Adams said:
“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. This issue will destroy New York City.”
“We’ve turned this city around in 20 months. And then what happened? Started with a madman down in Texas, decided he wanted to bus people up to New York City: 110,000 migrants.”
- Adams has been a vocal critic of both President Biden and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) for failing to provide resources, funding, and expedited work permits for migrants and asylum seekers. Adams projected that the city’s budget gap could grow to $12 billion.
The scope of migration in the city
- The city has seen an influx of 110,000 migrants since last year. New York City has a mandate that it must provide shelter to anyone who needs it, and the migrant surge has led to the opening of 200 emergency sites. Shelters are at capacity, with officials saying that 500 new migrants are arriving each day.
- Anne Williams-Isom, the city’s deputy mayor for health and human services, said:
“Before, the right to shelter and what’s going on in New York City was like our little secret. Now the whole globe knows that if you go to New York City, we’re going to do what we always do. We have a big heart. We have compassion. We’re going to take care of people.”
Criticisms
- Murad Awawdeh, the executive director of the New York Immigration Coalition, criticized Adams:
“The comments are uncalled for. Using dangerous language sometimes leads to dangerous acts and we don’t want people put in that situation. So it’s important that leaders understand how to communicate [to] not put people’s lives on the line."
- The Legal Aid Society and the Coalition for the Homeless said:
"His dystopian comments dehumanize and villainize people who fled unimaginable situations in their home countries merely for an opportunity to provide for their families and secure a better life."
The strain on schools
- There are 1,700 certified bilingual teachers fluent in Spanish across the city’s 1,900 public schools, but the enrollment of 20,000 migrant children in New York City schools has tested the system.
- Natasha Quiroga, from the New School’s Center for New York City Affairs, said:
“Any city would struggle to receive the large number of children that are coming at one time, who are also learning English, as well as living in temporary housing or in temporary shelters. The city has attempted to create some sort of plan, but there is still just not enough there, just not enough resources to go around.”
What's the story?
- New York City's mayor Eric Adams declared a state of emergency over an influx of migrants sent to his city by Texas's Republican Gov. Greg Abbott.
- During a meeting with administration officials in Washington, D.C., last Friday, he requested that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) stop sending funding to cities that ship migrants north. He also called on emergency federal and state relief.
- Activists have decried Gov. Abbott's moves and argue that GOP lawmakers use asylum seekers and migrants as pawns in political stunts, undermining their humanity and autonomy.
What is Adams saying?
- Adams says that New York will be responsible for spending at least $1 billion by the end of the fiscal year on the migrant crisis alone and that the influx of unexpected migrants is putting a strain on the city's resources. City officials project that they will spend at least $4.3 billion on the crisis by June 2024.
- Adams said:
"There was never any agreement to take on the job of supporting thousands of asylum seekers. This responsibility was simply handed to us without warning as buses began showing up. There is no playbook for this, no precedent."
"We need a real leadership moment from FEMA. This is a national crisis. FEMA deals with national crises. FEMA must step up and there should be one coordinator to coordinate everything that is happening dealing with migrants and asylum seekers in our country."
- Adams has criticized Biden's response to the crisis in NYC:
"Washington, it's time to respond. Enough is enough."
Why is Abbott sending buses north?
- Abbott has been sending buses filled with migrants north before the midterm elections to increase support among his staunchly anti-immigration voter base.
- Abbott's actions mirror Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who flew asylum seekers north to Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, in September 2022.
- Republican leaders like Abbott and DeSantis are trying to highlight what they perceive as the failed border policies of the Biden administration.
- Gov. Abbott said:
"Adams talked the talk about being a sanctuary city – welcoming illegal immigrants into the Big Apple with warm hospitality. Talk is cheap. When pressed into fulfilling such ill-considered policies, he wants to condemn anyone who is pressing him to walk the walk."
- Abbott has spent over $14 million sending more than 10,000 migrants to cities, including self-proclaimed "sanctuary cities" like Washington, D.C., New York, and Chicago.
What is the situation on the ground?
- More than 17,000 asylum seekers have been bussed into NYC since the spring. A vast majority of the migrants are from Venezuela.
- Adams said that once the most recent crop of asylum seekers is processed and given shelter, the city will have the highest recorded number of people in their shelter system.
- NYC currently has more than 61,000 individuals — almost 20,000 children — in its shelter system. NYC has set up a "tent city" emergency relief center where asylum seekers can rest and get assistance for the next leg of their journey, often to another city or state.
- The vast majority are seeking legal permission to remain in the U.S., often citing poverty, cartel violence, and environmental degradation as the source of their bid for asylum.
Do you agree with the state of emergency declaration?
-Emma Kansiz
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abbortt and paxton want to keep the rest of the country distracted with the 'shipping immigrants to blue cities/states' while
TEXAS STATE HOUSE/SENATE VOTE TO GIVE abbortt/paxton THE RIGHT TO OVERTURN ELECTIONS!
With little to no notice, TX changed voting machines this last year and due to a 'shortage' of paper ballots (newly needed by new machines) at 'some' voting locations in Harris County, the State deems it necessary to OVERTAKE elections. Wish I could directly state 'FU' to the likes of abbortt/paxton, but at least I can keep cornyn, crenshaw and cruz updated! SO FU STATE CONGRESSIONAL/SENATE REPS.!
https://news.yahoo.com/texas-senate-approves-bill-allow-183154752.html
I support pushing FEMA to get involved. Texas gets more money from FEMA than any other state, so it's clear that this will hurt them.
Maybe Texas should learn to solve their own problems without US taxpayer assistance.
First, we need to admit that we are all immigrants. All of our families came here from somewhere at some time to get something they desired. I hear a lot of noise and see the finger-pointing regarding illegal immigration. However, I do not see anyone presenting humane answers. We must stop reacting to the symptom of illegal immigration and look closer at the real problems causing people to flock to the United States in droves. We must investigate whether our country is participating in the issues that cause people to come here. If not, what can we do to make legal immigration a faster less expensive process?
There is a solution... instead of busing aslyum seekers up north in this inhumane way that Abbott has why not have states/cities share the care of immigrants in a coordinated way. Allowing for immigration courts to be opened in all states along with immigration centers. In this way the whole country share this responsibility
Why are the FEDs not taking action? This is illegal human trafficing and transporting people involuntarily accrost state lines: Abbot and DeSantis should be in Federal holding pending charges. Why is Congress not investigating these illegal actions?
Maybe. What we really need is to fix the immigration system. We have the lowest unemployment in all 247 years of American history and we can't fill job vacancies or get decent pay for our time.
Declaring a state of emergency kicks in all kinds of resources and funding. I'm not schooled in the specifics, but I don't have any gut punch reaction to it being done.
I thought NYC wants to welcome immigrants with open arms and is highly critical of places like Texas that don't share this view. However, aside from that it seems "state of emergency" is declared these days at the drop of a hat, so waters down the meaning. Could it be this is done to get free government money?
It's a waste of money and a grandstand for headlines. No single politician is going to talk the migrants into staying home. I do not have an answer, but reforming our immigration laws and rules would be a start. Issuing working identification to illegals so they can pay taxes and get the rest of their documentation would be a good start.
Sanctuary cities never run out of room for illegals.
Considering Adams is spending $12B feeding & housing immigrants sent by red state governors he has every right to try to resolve the problem.
In this case looking at Columbia which has a very large immigrant population as it's one country that asylum seeers need to apply for asylum along with Ecuador and Mexico before the US to qualify for US asylum if they passed through those countries enroute to the US.
Columbia which has a population of 51M has successfully absorbed 2.8M immigrants which is more than the U.S. by allowing them to work.
Adams is at least looking for constructive solutions instead of just dumping people like Abbott & DeSantis vengefully on sanctionsry cities because they don't like their policies.
"When you look at Colombia they have really shown how to absorb individuals into their societies, and one of the most important ways to do it is to allow people to work,”
"In Colombia, Adams said his goal is not to tell migrants what they should do, but to learn about their motives and find solutions to the immigration crisis."
"The mayor also went to Ecuador and Mexico during his whistlestop tour, where he visited shelters for migrants and spoke to local legislators."
"The South American country [Columbia] has received 2.8 million migrants from Venezuela over the past seven years, and enabled them to apply for 10-year residency permits that also give them access to health and education services."
https://apnews.com/article/colombia-migrants-new-york-mayor-2293fc825fbe51e2fabbb7d14768e971
I have to give NYC Mayor Adams credit for his efforts to apply to those coming into our country for actually facing them and explaining to them his reasoning. Reasoning does more good than razor wire running down the middle of the Rio Grande and the violence that goes along with it. It is a shame that these people cannot feel safe in their own country. Wait till they find out that this country is turning into a government controlled country like the one they are fleeing from.
But futile...
I am totally in favor of controlled legal immigration. But not coming into country illegally. They should be put in planes and taken back to home country. And let's start cracking down on the employers who employ the illegals. I can't begin to comprehend how desperate they must be to risk their lives making the trip to border.
Mayor Adams is reaping what he sowed. He thought the label sanctuary city where just words. Now he's feeling the impact like the small, poor border cities
He has to do something since the Federal government is a total loss as is Congress with their inability to pass any viable legislation to protect the borders. We should ask Congress to go reside south of the border.
What a waste of tax funds to have a mayor traveling for international purposes. This is clearly a job for the federal government. Mayors have no authority in international matters.
Better to go to DC and get the border closed. Stay in Mexico again. Biden is letting terrorists and foreign agents in creating security issues.
I ONLY agree with this if it helps stop the flow. His issues in New York are insignificant in comparison to the border crisis. I'm confident he would still be acting liberal if he hadn't had a few thousand sent to New York. I love it when liberals have to deal directly with their agendas.
This what you get as a sanctuary city. Suck it up buttercup.
Adams is right, and has a right to be concerned, but unless he knows some secret to reducing people from migrating from their origins countries and this works, he needs to engage with Congress to reform our laws and fund the immigration system to address this problem.
Yes, the Biden administration might be able to do some things better, but it's really up to Congress which has failed for over 20 years to reform and update our system.
Congress needs to do its job and stop kicking this political football around while people are suffering.
I'm sure that the state of emergency is valid, given the # of migrants that have been shipped to NY 9mostly by Abbott and DeSantis). There's only so many shelters to house the existing homeless, let alone migrants.
New York City is a prime example of how unregulated illegal immigration is overwhelming our resources.
Yes, America is a nation of immigrants. We should definitely maintain a functional system of granting access to manageable amounts of legal immigrants and asylum seekers. What we cannot do is help everyone. It's unfortunate, but reality. We are already struggling nationally with increased homelessness, child poverty, struggling veterans, hunger, etc. Our economy is struggling, and government agencies are so bloated that they are largely ineffective. Welcoming in everyone indiscriminately will only hurt many of them in the end, when they are homeless, incarcerated, or unemployed because the basic resources were overwhelmed.
If I buy my child a Happy Meal and then take them to a park where there are twenty other children without Happy Meals, making my child share everything in that one meal with everyone else does not mean that everyone is fed and nourished, it means that nobody is nourished or satisfied.
If your ship sinks and your lifeboat cannot carry more than twenty people, pulling forty more people aboard does not mean you save everyone, it means you swamp the lifeboat and fewer people survive.
Our nation is great and generous, but it is also finite.
Related to but not determinant of NYC's Immigrant Crisis
The average Manhattan rent just hit a new record of $5,588 a month
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/08/10/the-average-manhattan-rent-just-hit-a-new-record-of-5588-a-month.html?
• Despite a loss in population during the pandemic, average rents in Manhattan are now up 30% compared to 2019.
• The average monthly rent in July was $5,588, up 9% over last year and marking a new record. Median rent, at $4,400 per month, also hit a new record, along with price per square foot of $84.74, according to a report from Miller Samuel and Douglas Elliman.
• It was the fourth time in five months that Manhattan rents hit a record.
NYC Mayor Eric Adams said influx of migrants "will destroy New York City”
The Democrats in NY State and NYC started running thathreat city into the ground a long time ago. This guy is your topical Democrat politician. He don’t care if our country is being over run by uncheck Ed dd people from all over the world.
He is complaining now because he is experiencing what our border states have been since thedsy Biden took office.
Even Democrat members want this unchecked influx to stop!
It is about time reasonable people stand up and say enough to this open border policy the Democrats have set into place.
Elected members of our government have been breaking out their own laws for decades without being called on it. It time they resign, and that from both parties!
FEMA AND COVID MONEY MISUSED BY TEXAS AND FLORIDA NEEDS FULL INVESTIGATION . monies found should be sent to the places they have bussed to other communities.
NO MORE FEMA OR COVID MONEY TO TEXAS OR FLORIDA!!!!
The consequence of Biden's "secure border" on a sanctuary city. Of course, Texas should keep them all.
A sanctuary city? Surely you jest Eric