Radio personality Charlamagne Tha God has recently taken Democratic New York City Mayor Eric Adams to task over his shifting stance on the city's migrant policy.
The critique came in light of Adams' previous encouragement of migrants to settle in the city, only to later impose stricter limitations on their stay.
According to the Daily Caller, during his tenure as Brooklyn Borough President from 2014 to 2021, and early into his mayoral term, Adams extended a warm welcome to migrants. However, his stance hardened after Republican-led border states began sending migrants to the city. Charlamagne, on his popular radio show "The Breakfast Club," lambasted Adams for his about-face.
Charlamagne was quoted as saying, You told em to come, Mayor Adams We not gon let none of the Democrats off the hook who were saying they had sanctuary cities and they were saying, Come on in, come on in, come on in. And thats when Republicans started shippin em, and then thats when they were like, Everybody stop, its too much. Thats what they were trying to tell you from the beginning, but you didnt want to listen.
In April 2022, Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott initiated a program to bus thousands of migrants to Democrat-run cities, including New York City. This move was a response to what Abbott perceived as the Biden administration's "refusal to secure the border."
Despite initially decrying Abbott's actions as "horrific," Adams expressed pride in New York's status as a right-to-shelter state in August 2022. He stated, [That is] our responsibility as a city, Im proud that this is a right-to-shelter state and were going to continue to do that. New York is a city that has always represented the democratic values and the values of our city of showing our compassion, and thats what were doing today.
However, in a significant policy shift, Adams announced in March that the city had reached an agreement with the Legal Aid Society to limit the time adult migrants can stay in the shelter system to approximately one month. This is a stark departure from the provisions of the 1981 right-to-shelter law.
The influx of over 200,000 migrants since spring 2022 has strained the city's resources, leading Adams to mandate 5% budget cuts in September 2023 for government initiatives aimed at assisting the migrants. The city reportedly spent $1.45 billion on migrant-related expenses in the fiscal year 2023.
As Adams prepares to attend the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, he has expressed excitement about discussing the migrant crisis. He is particularly keen on hearing Vice President Kamala Harris's plans for managing the border and increasing migrant work permits.
Charlamagne, however, believes that the focus should be on the communities affected by the migrant crisis. He stated, They need to be meeting with the activists and the people in the community who are against the migrant crisis, and talk to those people and see how the migrant crisis has impacted them. Thats who they need to be talking to.
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