New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) said this week that he did not open his city to migrants, despite a number of statements in recent years that appear to prove him wrong. The mayor’s statement comes as New York is struggling to handle the influx of more than 100,000 illegal immigrants who arrived since last year.
During an interview with local media, Adams was asked about his previous support for New York’s status as a sanctuary city. The mayor said that he was “a passionate New Yorker” and that individuals from across the world came to the city for “an opportunity to pursue the American Dream.”
However, he said, he did not want to “treat people in an undignified way.” He added that “when people came here at the same time, I never said, come one, come all. People attempted to give that impression, that has never been my impression. Our hearts are big, but our resources are not endless.”
“And I made that clear a year ago, stated, this should not be happening to New York City,” Adams said. “How people tried to interpret that and spin that, that is not the reality.”
Adams wasn’t the only official to back away from earlier comments. Last year, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) said that farms in the rural part of New York were “begging for workers.” She added that there were “help-wanted signs everywhere” in the city.
The governor said that the United States is a “smart, thoughtful country, and can put aside everybody’s passions around this and say: ‘This is actually good for our economy.'”
Like many other Dem executives, New York Governor Kathy Hochul has had quite the shift in her views on migrants coming across the border in just over a year…
From "good for the economy" to we have to "it's too open"… pic.twitter.com/kIP8ULQypj
— AG (@AGHamilton29) October 1, 2023
In an interview with CBS News this weekend, the governor said that the border is “too open right now. People coming from all over the world are finding their way through simply saying they need asylum” and cited the surge of migrants into “the streets of New York.”
Adams’ comments also come after years of posturing from city and state officials against the Trump administration’s immigration policy. In particular, many on the left opposed the White House’s Title 42 asylum program, which was reversed by President Joe Biden earlier this year.
New York has attempted to place the migrants in a number of hotels and former facilities. City officials have even sent migrants to other parts of New York State, against the will of other counties and cities.
