Mayor Adams hits Biden on migrant crisis, says NYC is 'paying for a national problem'
May 21, 2023, 2:15 p.m.
The mayor said the $30.5 million federal grant the city received this month is not enough to help all of the asylum seekers who have arrived in New York over the last year.
Mayor Eric Adams on Sunday called on President Joe Biden to send more aid to New York as the city continues to welcome thousands of asylum-seekers every week.
During an appearance on CBS's "Face the Nation," Adams said the $30.5 million federal grant approved for New York earlier this month to help migrants fell far short of what the city needs.
"We’ve spent over $1 billion. We’re projected to spend close to $4.3 billion if not more," said Adams. "When you look at the price tag, $30 million comes nowhere near what this city is paying for a national problem."
Adams spokesperson Fabien Levy said the city has asked the federal government for $650 million to help asylum seekers who have arrived in the five boroughs. The mayor on Sunday said the city has received more than 70,000 migrants from the Southern border since last year, and more than 42,000 of them remain in the city's care.
The mayor issued an emergency order earlier this month that suspended the city's right-to-shelter law, citing the influx of asylum seekers across the five boroughs.
Adams said the White House should better coordinate where migrants are brought after they enter the country.
"We have 108,000 cities, villages, towns," said Adams. "If everyone takes a small portion of the [migrants] and if it’s coordinated at the border to ensure those who are coming here into this country in a lawful manner, is actually moved throughout the entire country, it is not a burden on one city."
Shortly after Adams' appearance on national television, Republican leaders in Suffolk County held a news conference announced plans to try to prevent the mayor from sending migrants to eastern Long Island. The mayor this month has received pushback from some local Hudson Valley leaders after migrants were taken from New York City to Orange County.
Adams' comments on Sunday were his latest criticism of Biden's management of the migrant crisis. The mayor last month said Biden's management of the issue has "failed this city."