After migrants faced off with New York City police over being transferred from a hotel to free housing, Mayor Eric Adams has called the entire situation "very frustrating."
"I'm extremely frustrated," Adams said late last month, speaking of the nearly 21,000 migrants who have been bused to New York since last year without, he says, any plan or coordination.
He had recently returned from El Paso, Texas, a city which ingests nearly 1,000 migrants daily. In December, Adams declared a state of emergency claiming there was simply nowhere to house the migrants.
ILLEGAL MIGRANTS REFUSE TO LEAVE NYC HOTEL FOR BROOKLYN MIGRANT RELIEF CENTER, SLEEP IN THE STREET
Republican border governors, who have long complained about the state of the border, have recently started exporting the issue to Democrat run cities that have criticized their handling of the migrant crisis.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - JANUARY 30: Migrants speak with NYC Homeless Outreach members as they camp out in front of the Watson Hotel after being evicted on January 30, 2023 in New York City. Migrants who have been staying at the Watson Hotel since arriving to NYC were evicted over the weekend to be relocated to the recently opened up migrant relief center for single adult men at the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal. The ones who refused have been camping out in front of the hotel since eviction. Several migrants who agreed to the relocation returned, complaining of lack of heat and bathroom space. (Michael M. Santiago)
These cities, due to their welfare apparatus, diverse communities, and distance from the border, were already appealing destinations for migrants but with Governors like Gregg Abbott, R-Texas, and Ron DeSantis, R-Florida, facilitating transportation the rate at which migrants make the journey has dramatically increased.
In response to this crisis, mayors like Adams have turned to the Biden administration for help.
New York City mayor Eric Adams (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
"The White House must have a real decompression strategy," Adams says. Among his top requests is for the White House to appoint a single coordinator to handle migrants’ travel, instead of leaving that work to Republican governors whose primary concerns, he claims, may be political, not humanitarian.
NYC MAYOR ADAMS CALLS OUT BIDEN, SAYS MIGRANT CRISIS A ‘REAL EMBARRASSMENT’
The Biden administration rejected the notion that it wasn't doing enough to help Democrat cities that have been the recipients of migrants. "Look, we're going to continue to do the work," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said at a press briefing last week, when asked about the mayor’s request.
"I have a Republican governor dumping on my city," Adams said. "I have a Democratic governor dumping on my city. That is where the national government should have stepped in and said, ‘Wait a minute, let's coordinate this effort.’"
Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott pushed school safety in his third inaugural address Tuesday. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
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"Since April, Texas’ busing strategy has successfully provided much-needed relief to our border communities overwhelmed by the historic influx of migrants caused by President Biden’s reckless open border policies," Abbott said in a statement regarding migrant bussing. "Until the Biden Administration does its job and provides Texans and the American people with sustainable border security, Texas will continue defending against an invasion along the border, including adding more sanctuary cities like Philadelphia as drop-off locations for our busing strategy."
