New York City Mayor Eric Adams has refuted the claim that the current migrant crisis is a direct result of the city's sanctuary status.
This comes in response to actions by Republican governors, such as Greg Abbott of Texas, who have been transporting asylum seekers to Democratic-led states and sanctuary cities. The Republicans argue that this move is essential to demonstrate the challenges border states are grappling with due to the influx of migrants.
During a recent GOP primary debate, Republican presidential hopeful Nikki Haley suggested that the migrant crisis overwhelming Democratic cities was an inevitable consequence of impractical policy. "This is putting harm on our schools, on our hospitals. Taxpayers are paying for it. You see these mayors are now upset about it. The only reason Eric Adams is now upset, why? He shouldnt be a sanctuary city then," Haley stated. "Thats why we have to defund sanctuary cities. Now Governor Abbott finally did to them whats been happening to Texas for so long. Weve got to put an end to this."
Many migrants strategically exploit asylum law to legally enter the United States as "asylum seekers." However, Mayor Adams criticized Haley for merging the two distinct issues. "Well, national leaders should have national knowledge of policies. This has nothing to do with sanctuary cities," he countered during an appearance on ABC's "Good Morning America." "Migrants and asylum seekers are paroled into the country, they are here legally. And so when you have a national leader talking about sanctuary cities are the reason were having this,' it is telling me shes not knowledgeable on the real topic."
Adams further argued that the issue lies in the lack of a national decompression strategy when paroling individuals into the country. He suggested that the burden should be distributed across the nation rather than targeting specific cities.
Adams also pointed out that even major cities are struggling to accommodate the influx of migrants. "The overall fix", he stated, is that "cities shouldnt be handling a national crisis of this magnitude."
"Were getting an average just think of this number, there are weeks we get 4,000 migrants that come into our city," Adams revealed. "When you have anywhere [from] 2,500 to 4,000 coming in a week, and you have to find housing, food, shelter, clothing, educate the children, health care, thats not sustainable. Its a $12 billion hole in the budget of our economy. Its going to impact low-income New Yorkers, and its gonna impact every service in the city. I said it last year were going to start seeing the visualization of this crisis. Weve done a great job, but we cant continue to sustain this."
Adams has previously criticized the notion of migrants being sent to New York City due to its sanctuary status. "These people are paroled into the country, that has nothing to do with it. While they are here, we are obligated [to provide housing] and thats why were in court saying that the right to shelter should not have an impact on this migrant crisis," he argued at a recent press conference.
The mayor has contended that the "right to shelter" rules for New York City are now being misused and were not originally designed to compel the city to provide housing for the unprecedented waves of asylum seekers arriving.
Despite his current stance, some of Adams' past comments on mass migration were more welcoming. In 2019, he declared: "To anyone in the world fleeing hatred and oppression, the ultimate city of immigrants wants you to remember: youre ALWAYS welcome here."
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