Mayor Eric Adams denied Tuesday that city officials were “coordinating” to send migrants from the Big Apple to Canada — and called the now-$4.2 billion estimated cost of the influx a “moving target” with no upper limit.
Adams was repeatedly asked during an unrelated Manhattan news conference about The Post’s exclusive Sunday revelation that City Hall was helping finance bus rides to upstate Plattsburgh for migrants who then illegally entered the Great White North at an unofficial border crossing.
“We are not coordinating with anyone to go to Canada. We’re not doing it,” Adams said. “There is no role that the city is playing to tell migrants to go to Canada.”
Adams said the city’s “intake process” for newly arrived migrants included interviews “to find out their needs.”
“And we speak with people, they say they desire to go somewhere else,” he said. “There’s a host of partnerships, with the Catholic Charities to others, that have been coordinating with people to get to their final destination.”
Adams added, “We don’t have a website. We don’t have a recruitment campaign. We’re not telling people to go to another country.”
Adams also said that “unlike other municipalities, we are speaking to people to say, ‘What are your needs?'”
“We want to help them connect with their family members,” he added.
Several migrants interviewed by The Post before they crossed into Canada said they were doing it for better job opportunities and improved quality of life.
The Post also asked the mayor about allegations by US Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-Glens Falls), whose district covers Plattsburgh and the Roxham Road border crossing, that he’s helping migrants break the terms of their release into the US to seek asylum.
“New Yorkers deserve answers for why their taxpayer dollars are being spent to help illegal immigrants violate their parole and escape the law,” the No. 4 House Republican said Monday.
In response, Adams tried to brush off the accusation, saying, “You know New York: 8 million people, 35 million opinions.”
“So, those critics who say we are aiding and abetting, I don’t know where they get that from,” he added.
The Post further pressed Adams about City Hall’s disclosure earlier Tuesday that the migrant crisis was now expected to cost $4.2 billion during fiscal years 2023 and 2024, up from the “$1.5 to $2 billion” the mayor predicted last month.
Adams initially denied the $4.2 billion figure, saying the numbers were “1.4 [billion] this [year], 2.8 next.”
When told they added up to $4.2 billion, the mayor replied, “I was never an expert in math, you know.”
Adams also said that migrants “were still coming in” on a daily basis and that the estimated costs “may grow, also.”
“So, we know that this is a moving target. There’s a lot of uncertainty,” he said. “And so, when [Director] Jacques [Jiha] from the budget office was able to come up with some good numbers that we can turn over, we did just that.”