NYC Mayor Eric Adams slams Biden administration’s migrant work permit delays
Mayor Eric Adams railed against the Biden administration Tuesday as he called on the feds yet again to expedite work permits for the tens of thousands of migrants flooding into the Big Apple, slamming the current delays as “unacceptable.”
Hizzoner doubled down on his repeated cries for more federal assistance and funds to help stem the migrant crisis plaguing the city — arguing that the Big Apple had been unfairly saddled with a national emergency.
“There is no reason the national government is not standing true to the basic principle of the American experience to allow you the right to work,” Adams said during a rally outside Brooklyn Borough Hall Plaza.
“It is unacceptable.”
Speaking alongside other elected officials, including Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, the mayor said the Big Apple needed more support to deal with the relentless influx of migrants arriving daily.
“It’s unfair as the city continues to evolve that a national crisis and humanitarian crisis of a level that has never been experienced before is now dropped into the lap of this city with no support,” Adams said in the emotionally charged speech.
Reynoso went on to warn that the out-of-control migrant crisis could damage the Democrats in the 2024 election.
“We need those seats,” the Brooklyn borough president said. “I want to be very clear that this can be used against the Democratic Party during these congressional races.”
More than 100,000 asylum seekers have poured into the city since early 2022, and roughly 60,000 are currently being housed in the nearly 200 city-run emergency shelters scattered across the five boroughs.
Adams sounded the alarm earlier this month that the migrant crunch is expected to set the city back a whopping $12 billion over the next three years.
“This is the greatest challenge our city has faced in decades,” Adams told the rally. “We’ve got to get it right.”
Elsewhere during his address, Adams slammed “hateful” New Yorkers who he says have urged him to turn the asylum seekers away.
“New Yorkers, please don’t turn against each other. That is what the enemy wants,” he said.
“This city is supposed to be displaying what the God-like spirit is. And it doesn’t mean stating that ‘We don’t want those people.'”
Though he didn’t point to a specific incident, the mayor was accosted over the weekend by raging Queens residents who were protesting one of the city’s latest emergency shelters being erected at the Creedmoor Psychiatric Center.
Phil Orenstein, a leader in the Queens Village Republican Club, had urged the mayor to “tell your president” to stop sending migrants to New York and instead “send them back” to Mexico and Washington, DC.
Adams was quick to dismiss the calls to deport migrants as illegal, asking: “If I do that, would I be breaking the law?”