National Guard refuses to hand out NYC’s pamphlets telling migrants not to come, ‘consider another city’
Mayor Eric Adams’ plan to hand out flyers at the border and at Big Apple migrant sites — telling asylum seekers to “consider another city” — is getting abject refusal from the National Guard and federal authorities, The Post has learned.
When a city deputy working with the Humanitarian and Emergency Relief Centers requested National Guardsmen pass out the leaflets, the soldiers declined — saying there was no green light from superiors, a source told The Post.
The National Guard assists in processing hundreds of migrants at dozens of city sites, emergency relief centers and hotels.
National Guard spokesman Col. Richard Goldberg had a more blunt reply to the query: “We are not.”
“It’s not in our mission set,” he said. “It’s not a mission set we can pass to our members.”
Gov. Kathy Hochul, who oversees the National Guard units in the state, did not immediately comment.
The Patrol also had no immediate comment on whether its officers will allow the flyers’ distribution at the border discouraging migrants from making the trek to New York.
“Please consider another city as you make your decision about where to settle in the U.S.,” the bright-yellow flyers read in English and Spanish. Noting that New York is the most expensive place to live in the United States, the leaflets caution there is “no guarantee we will be able to provide shelter and services to new arrivals.”
According to the handouts, more than 90,000 migrants have come to New York City and “there is no guarantee we will be able to provide shelter and services to new arrivals”.
The city has opened more than 188 sites to house migrants, including 18 humanitarian relief centers. The mayor’s announcement came as roughly 2,800 migrants arrived in the Big Apple last week — adding to the more than 90,000 that have poured in since April last year.
Adams, during a Wednesday press conference, said he and Hochul were at odds over persuading President Joe Biden to call for a national emergency to address the migrant crisis.
“We have yet to do that. There’s been some reluctance on getting the governor to do it,” the mayor said.
An Adams spokesperson did not address any tiff with the National Guard over the flyers’ distribution, but said: “New York City has already sheltered, fed, and provided a multitude of services to more than 90,000 asylum seekers since last year.”
“We’ve done more than any other level of government to help those seeking asylum, but we are out of space,” the statement continued. “We urge our federal partners to find a national solution to this national crisis.”
Adams declared a state of emergency in October 2022 and has repeatedly called on the federal government to provide more financial and logistical help. Without naming Biden by name, the mayor and his staff called on Washington for more assistance, and to expedite work authorization for migrants.
The city is required by a consent decree to provide shelter for those without home but on Wednesday, Adams proposed a 60-day limit on shelter stays for single adult migrants. The city’s shelter system is bursting at the seams with more than 100,000 people — a record. More than half are migrants.
The Republican National Committee seized on the policy change, retweeting a copy of the flyer that taunted: “That’s not very progressive of them!”
The mayor replied that even a generous sanctuary city can only do so much.
“We cannot continue to absorb tens of thousands of newcomers,” Adams said, adding the new limit was one of the “difficult choices” the city has been forced to make in order to cater to the relentless influx.
“We’re not going to pretend this is sustainable. It’s wrong that New York City is carrying the weight of a national problem.”
