NYC mayor visits Texas border, asks ‘government to do its job’ with migrant crisis

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• New York City Mayor Eric Adams traveled to the Mexican border city of El Paso on Sunday, saying cities where immigrants are flowing need help from FEMA.
• Adams also criticized the federal government’s response to the influx of immigrants into the country.
• The mayor also said that “there is no room in New York” for busloads of migrants being sent to the city.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams made an unprecedented visit to the Texas border city of El Paso over the weekend, reiterating the federal government’s responsibility to help cities where immigrants are flowing.

Adams, a Democrat, criticized the response of the government over the influx of immigrants into U.S. cities, saying, “We need clear coordination.”

He said Sunday that “now is the time for the national government to do its job” about the migrant crisis at the nation’s southern border.

“Our cities are being undermined. And we don’t deserve this. Migrants don’t deserve this. And the people who live in the cities don’t deserve this,” Adams said. “We expect more from our national leaders to address this issue in a real way.”

Adams added that New York City has been overwhelmed after welcoming around 40,000 asylum seekers since last spring. Last week, NYC saw a record of nearly 840 asylum seekers arriving in one day, Adams said.

“New York cannot take more. We can’t,” the mayor said, adding that other cities also can’t take more. “No city deserves what is happening,” he said.

Adams also blasted the practice of some governors of busing immigrants straight from the border to Democratic-led cities including New York City. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has transported buses of immigrants to New York City and Washington D.C. to emphasize what he said was inaction by the Biden administration over the surge of migrants crossing on the southern border.

The NYC mayor noted that the governor of Colorado, a Democrat, had also bused migrants to New York City. He said the two governors’ actions showed “bipartisan disrespect for cities and it was wrong.”

Adams called on the federal government to pick up the cost that the cities are incurring to help the migrants.

“We need a real leadership moment from FEMA,” he said. “This is a national crisis.”

President Joe Biden visited El Paso earlier this month for the first time since taking office. Biden toured a section of the border wall in an effort to show that he was taking the issue seriously as he prepares for a re-election bid.

Source: CBS News