Facing an influx of illegal immigrants, Democratic New York City Mayor Eric Adams said he’d be happy to share ideas on the crisis with President-elect Donald Trump.
At a post-election press conference, Adams said New York now hosts 220,000 illegal immigrants and has received negligible support from the federal government.
“I want to see the federal government fix a federal problem. This is a federal problem,” Adams said when asked what help he would like to see.
It is estimated that feeding and housing the illegal immigrants for three years will cost the city $10 billion.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has allocated $2.4 billion for this year.
Which is perhaps why the NYC mayor said the city will phase out out a program that gave prepaid debit cards to migrant families in city-funded hotels to purchase their own meals and essentials, according to CBS News New York.
The program will provide migrant families with debit cards until the end of the year. After that, the city will deliver food directly to migrants.
“As we move towards more competitive contracting for asylum seeker programs, we have chosen not to renew the emergency contract for this pilot program once the one-year term concludes. For over two years, we have provided care to more than 222,000 migrants while saving $2 billion in asylum seeker-related costs,” Adams said in a statement.
“We will continue to implement and learn from innovative pilot programs like the immediate response cards program as we care for hundreds of new arrivals every week.”
Adams said he planned to call Trump but had not done so because the president-elect is likely flooded with calls at the moment.
“I communicated with the president yesterday to state that there are many issues here in the city that we want to work together with the administration to address,” Adams said.
“The city must move forward, and that is what our call is to do.”
He said that if the new president would be willing to listen, he would happily share his ideas and experiences.
As The Epoch Times’ Oliver Mantyk reports, Adams has voiced disappointment with being unable to deport illegal immigrants who are repeat offenders after a number of violent criminals landed back on the streets after arrest.
The mayor has also been critical of the Biden administration’s handling of the border. According to Adams, his administration took 10 trips to Washington to negotiate a solution. Plans for a statewide “decompression plan” to involve more counties in helping the immigrants are also underway.
Though Trump’s platform promised to secure the border and deport illegal immigrants, New York’s sanctuary city laws would make it harder for the Trump administration to detain illegal immigrants there. The laws prevent police from assisting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in many cases, and protect illegal immigrants from deportation.
At the press conference, the Adams administration reaffirmed its commitment to sanctuary laws.
Commissioner Manuel Castro, head of the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs, said:
“As a sanctuary city, we intend to follow the law. And we expect that all our city agencies follow our sanctuary laws. … And we will continue to be a sanctuary city, and protect our immigrant communities.”
Castro stated that the most harmful thing facing immigrant communities right now is fear and misinformation. He maintained that immigrants will get the help and information that they need.
When asked about any policy changes now that a possibly more supportive president will be in office, the mayor said that nothing would change, and that his administration would continue on the path it has taken with the Biden administration. He’s been advocating that big cities like New York should not be taking the brunt of the crisis, and that changes must be made, and support given.
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