New York City Mayor Eric Adams recently embarked on a tour of Latin America, visiting Ecuador among other countries.
His visit included a stop at a family shelter in Quito, where he interacted with migrant families. However, his visit raised eyebrows as he refrained from discouraging the migrants from heading to New York City, a city already grappling with a significant influx of migrants.
The mayor's visit to the Fundacin Gotitas de Oblacin, a non-profit shelter, lasted approximately an hour. He spent this time engaging with ten migrant families. According to The Post, shelter staff were taken aback upon learning that Adams was supposedly on a mission to dissuade asylum seekers from attempting to enter the U.S.. "I didnt know anything about that," a shelter supervisor reportedly stated through a translator, adding, "He just came and said good job."
Shelter employees reported that Adams showed keen interest in learning about the shelter's operations and the services it provides to migrants, including assistance in finding employment and housing. However, one worker who guided Adams around the facility claimed that the mayor did not broach the subject of migrants or the US during his visit.
New York City is currently under immense pressure due to a massive influx of migrants, which has overwhelmed its shelter system and strained its financial resources. The estimated cost of accommodating these migrants is projected to reach a staggering $4.7 billion, equivalent to the combined budgets of the city's sanitation, fire, and parks departments.
Adams also visited Mexico as part of his tour, with the aim of discouraging asylum seekers from heading to New York City, which he described as being "at capacity." The state is struggling to accommodate the 122,000 migrants who have arrived in the past 18 months, a stark contrast to the previous year when Adams personally welcomed them.
"This is just the beginning of the journey of trying to be on the ground and understand the whole flow of migrant and asylum seekers," Adams stated. His comments were made upon his arrival in Mexico City, prior to his visit to Ecuador. He is also scheduled to travel to Colombia to engage with leaders there.
Adams later expressed his hope to "manage expectations" of migrants embarking on their journeys. He made these remarks while speaking at the base of a basilica in the city, a common place of prayer for those about to embark on such journeys.
In a surprising turn of events, Adams recently appealed to a judge to suspend the city's longstanding 'right to shelter' law during a state of emergency. The city has been attempting to suspend this policy for months due to the surge in migrants, arguing that the law was never intended to apply to a humanitarian crisis of this magnitude.
Adams' plea and his trip to Mexico to discourage migrants mark a dramatic shift from his earlier stance when he welcomed a busload of asylum seekers sent from Texas by Republican Governor Gregg Abbot.
"As the mayor of New York, I have to provide services families that are here, and that's what we're going to do - our responsibility as a city, and I'm proud that this is a Right to Shelter state, and we're going continue to do that," Adams declared.
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