Mayor Eric Adams demanded Wednesday that President Biden immediately appoint someone to develop a “decompression strategy” that will stop the surge of migrants to the Big Apple and other cities.
In a not-too-veiled shot at both Vice President Kamala Harris — whom Biden named his border czar almost two years ago — and embattled Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Adams said that “the White House must assure the immediate needs of cities that are impacted.”
“You see the support they deserve,” Adams said. “And that includes a person with the singular responsibility of a decompression strategy and other methods to address the asylum-seeker crisis we’re facing.”
Adams, a Democrat, didn’t elaborate on what he wanted from a “decompression strategy” or say if it meant he supported former President Donald Trump’s 2019 “Remain in Mexico” policy for migrants seeking asylum in the US.
Fellow Democrat Biden temporarily suspended the program after taking office in January 2021 and later canceled it, but that move was blocked in December by a federal judge in Texas.
Adams’ comments came during a virtual interview with Politico tied to his participation in the annual winter meeting of the US Conference of Mayors in Washington, DC.
Adams said he planned to discuss the ongoing influx of migrants across the southern US border “with my colleagues across the country, particularly those who are directly impacted by the crisis.”
Hizzoner said the city recently said that providing its 40,000-plus migrants with housing, food and other services could cost as much as $2 billion, double the initial estimate when he declared a state of emergency in October.
City Comptroller Brad Lander — who’s been feuding with Adams over the issue — has estimated the cost at $1 billion annually for at least the next three fiscal years.
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Adams said Wednesday that the city has spent about $300 million to date.
Also Wednesday, Adams called it “extremely alarming” that Democrats were losing the support of Asian and Latino voters “because we are not speaking to those people” about crime and other “important, bread-and-butter issues.”
“We have allowed the far, far left of our party to define us,” he said. “We are not a party of defunding police. We’re a party of supporting good law enforcement. We’re a party of understanding the importance of child care, a party of understand[ing] housing.
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“We need to talk to those real issues and not at New Yorkers,” the former NYPD lieutenant said.
When pressed on his relationship with outspoken socialist US Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), who represents the Bronx and Queens — and with whom he’s clashed recently through political proxies — Adams acknowledged that they “have a certain philosophical disagreement on certain things.”
“But we come from the same background, for the most part, of working-class families. And I think when you look at the core of what she desires for her constituency, it’s the same thing I desire for the people of the city of New York.”
Hizzoner added: “Sometimes, we have different roads on getting there. My road may be different from hers, but we have the same destination.”
Source: New York Post
