Mayor Adams issued yet another dire warning to President Biden Thursday — for the 36th time — predicting that the migrant crisis would eventually “decimate” the Big Apple if more federal funding doesn’t come fast.
“New York City is the economic engine of this entire state and country,” Adams told CBS Mornings. “If you decimate this city, you’re going to decimate the foundation of what’s happening. There’s a lot of blame to go around.”
Hizzoner has now asked Biden roughly three dozen times
for assistance in combating the mushrooming humanitarian crisis, based on numbers compiled by The Post.
But Biden has promised no extra money and pledged no added assistance — and, in fact, Adams revealed he hasn’t actually engaged directly with the president this year.
“We communicated with the White House several times,” the mayor said when asked if he’d spoken personally with Biden.
“We have … a contingent from Homeland Security that’s here now,” he added, without elaborating.
On Thursday, the mayor met behind closed doors for 30 minutes with one of Biden’s top aides, Tom Perez — a sit-down that’s come more than a year after the asylum seeker saga started to erupt.
“It was a good conversation, it was an introductory meeting. We had an opportunity to speak with him about New York’s priorities,” said the mayor’s Chief of Staff Camille Joseph Varlack.
“We talked about sites, we talked about decompression, we talked about legal strategies and work authorization pathways.”
The dialogue unfolded less than 24 hours after Hizzoner forewarned the projected cost of caring for tens of thousands of asylum seekers could potentially set the Big Apple back a staggering $12 billion.
Adams has long begged the Biden administration for more support to cover the cost of providing shelter and social services to asylum seekers.
The feds, so far, have contributed or promised a mere $142 million.
Adams’ aide wouldn’t give specifics when asked if Perez was probed about the so-far “insufficient” influx of federal cash.
“We had conversations about how we can get additional resources to New York City writ large, on a whole host of areas, including, as you know, we have approximately 20,000 children in our care,” Varlack said.
Adams has met with Perez before, when the mayor went down to Washington, DC, on July 27 to press the White House for additional federal funds to help refill the city’s coffers and expedited work papers for recent arrivals so they can exit the shelter system.
But, the mayor came away with only a promise from Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas that the administration would dedicate a staffer to improving coordination between the feds and City Hall.
The offer of a “liaison” was widely ridiculed by local elected officials across the political spectrum as insufficient.
It wasn’t immediately clear if Perez visited any of the roughly 200 emergency shelters, mega-relief centers and short-term respite facilities the city has set up to cater for the migrant influx.
His visit comes just days after dire scenes unfolded outside the Roosevelt Hotel — the city’s main intake center — when dozens of asylum seekers were forced to sleep on the streets after the buckling shelter system ran out of space. Members of DHS visited the center on Wednesday.
Since last spring, the city has welcomed roughly 100,000 migrants. More than half, an estimated 57,000, of recent arrivals remain in the city’s care, City Hall’s latest figures show.
The city is currently spending an average of $383 per night to provide shelter, food and other care to each migrant family, according to Adams.
City Hall says the daily tab for the operation already runs to $9.8 million — $3.6 billion annually, provided the numbers don’t keep increasing.
In addition to the $142 million from the feds, Gov. Hochul and state lawmakers agreed earlier this year to pick up $1 billion of what was then an estimated $4 billion price tag.
Additional reporting by Emily Crane
