The federal government has to take a bigger, more proactive role in addressing the migrant crisis at the US-Mexico border that is overwhelming city officials, New York City Democratic Mayor demanded on Sunday.
Mayor Eric Adams visited the southern border in El Paso, Texas, during the weekend to meet with his counterparts to discuss how the migrant crisis is impacting the community and to survey the border.
With cities like the Big Apple being forced to care for thousands of migrants that mayors from overburdened southern border cities are bussing, Adams, whose entering his second year as mayor, said it’s time for the federal government to do its job.
As record numbers of migrants continue to arrive and New York City reportedly received more than 3,100 asylum seekers in the past week – with more than 800 arriving last Thursday alone – Adams warned on Friday that the city is at its breaking point and submitted an emergency mutual aid request to New York State for immediate help shelter the asylum seekers over the weekend.
Although he chastised Colorado Democratic Governor Jared Polis and Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott for their uncoordinated efforts in bussing migrants to New York City, Adams said during the joint press conference with El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser, that New York City wasn’t pointing at any border city in particular for exacerbating the problem.
Adams noted the bipartisan disrespect for the cities shown by Polis and Abbott, stressing it was wrong and it should not continue, but emphasized they’re pointing the finger at the federal government.
Underscoring that the migration crisis is a national problem, Adams said real immigration reform must be developed and implemented, pointing out at the same time the need for an immediate, short-term fix to make sure local cities don’t pay the cost of all that.
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