New York City Mayor Eric Adams says “there is no more room” for asylum seekers arriving in the Big Apple since last year.
In an interview with Politico on Wednesday, the politician said the city simply had no more space to take any more refugees after taking in about 40,000 in recent months.
The Democratic mayor also said he has reached out to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul for help, but the requests have been mostly ignored.
He now says “every point is on the table” to address the crisis, including returning to his idea of using cruise ships docked in the city’s port as a temporary solution.
New York Mayor Eric Adams says “there is no more room” for asylum seekers
Mayor Eric Adams’ pleas for support from Gov. Kathy Hochul have been largely denied
Adams first brought the idea of housing migrants on cruise ships to the table in September after declaring a “humanitarian crisis” over the influx of migrants arriving in NYC.
Since the fall, when Republican governors, primarily Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, began sending asylum seekers from the border to largely Democratic cities, buses worth migrants have been arriving in the metro area on.
During the interview with Politico’s Sally Goldenberg, the reporter asked the mayor about his recent comments about the city running out of space.
Goldenberg asked if there were “other places” Adams wanted to send the migrants to if the city couldn’t accommodate them.
“Actually, Sally, there’s no more room,” Adams replied, describing the situation, which has already cost an estimated $300 million.
“It’s not that we’re getting to this point, we’re at this point,” he continued.
The mayor said he wanted “to bring clarity to New Yorkers about the issues and their implications” while also continuing to “fulfill our moral and legal obligation.”
In an interview with Politico, Adams said the city is nowhere near full, it’s already at capacity
The NYC mayor said he is considering using cruise ships to house migrants
Adams originally floated the idea of using cruise ships back in September
About 40,000 migrants arrived in NYC last year
The situation has already cost the city an estimated $300 million
“Whoever comes into town, you don’t see individuals sleeping on the streets with families because we continue to rotate and shift as needed,” the mayor said.
Part of this “pivot” could include the idea of bringing migrants aboard docked ships to act as temporary accommodation.
“If it means using cruise ships, if it means finding space on state lands, we will continue to flip and switch in my conversation with the governor to deal with the influx of migrants and asylum seekers that we are seeing,” Adams said.
He went on to say he hadn’t ruled out any options to deal with the crisis.
“We had to do that from the beginning of this crisis when the Texas governor sent people here. We will continue to make sure we address the issue we face while fighting for the support we deserve. ‘ he said.
Adams said nothing is off the table in managing the crisis
The cruise ship solution is just one of many proposals from the democratic mayor
Goldenberg then asked the mayor, “So does it sound like the possibility of cruise lines is still on the table?”
“All the items are on the table,” he replies. “We have a moral and legal responsibility to do the right thing, not just for all New Yorkers, but for everyone who comes to our city.”
Mayor Adams said he’s also recently had discussions with other mayors and will continue to speak to them about helping New York with the growing problem.
“I spoke to the Mayor of Kansas City today and he explained that while we’re not directly affected, we know this is hurting your cities and we want to be part of the solution,” Adams said.
The mayor said he has a “moral and legal” obligation to help migrants
He went on to say that they would continue to “pivot” until they found the best solution
“We had to do that from the beginning of this crisis when the Texas governor sent people here. We will continue to make sure we address the issue we face while fighting for the support we deserve. ‘ said Adams
It is New York Governor Kathy Hochul’s lack of reaction that Adams attributes to the solution of accommodating migrants on cruise ships.
Adams has appealed to Gov. Hochul for emergency aid, a request she has largely turned down.
He has also asked state and federal governments to allow the city to use land they own.
Similarly, President Joe Biden largely did not respond to the requests.
Adams has appealed to Gov. Hochul for emergency aid, a request she has largely turned down
Adams’ interview with Politico comes just days after he called the border crisis a “disaster” while visiting El Paso to get a first-hand view of the situation.
“Why isn’t this considered a disaster? This is a crisis,” Adams told the New York Post at the end of his visit.
“No one is coordinating these national efforts,” he said Sunday night from Texas.
“FEMA needs to step up. That’s their job,” he said, speaking of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Adams had previously requested $1 billion to help deal with the crisis.
Eric Adams toured migrant shelters and visited the southern border on the El Paso trip before describing the situation as a “disaster.”
Adams said FEMA should step in to help with the “disaster.”
The mayor sparked backlash after his interviews for not calling Biden, who many have blamed for the problem.
Nicole Malliotakis, a Republican representative for parts of Brooklyn and Staten Island, attacked him for calling the crisis merely a national problem and not naming the president.
“The mayor is right in the sense that he says this is a national crisis, but he has to say this is a national crisis caused by Joe Biden,” Malliotakis told Fox News.
“Joe Biden instituted the policies by executive order that have caused this mess. This did not happen under President Trump. It didn’t happen under President Obama, and it’s reached an all-time high,” she said.