By Joseph Green-Bishop
Texas Metro News Correspondent
Mayor Eric Adams
On a visit to the U.S.-Mexican border this past weekend, New York City Mayor Eric Adams said that mayors throughout the country must work together to find solutions to the surging number of migrants seeking asylum in the United States via the nation’s southern border.
Adams, who has been mayor of the country’s largest city since January of 2022, has witnessed more than 40,000 migrants bused to his city since Texas Governor Greg Abbott began busing migrants to New York, and to other cities throughout the nation. Under the mayor’s direction, New York has provided housing and resources for the migrants, but Adams said that the assistance was not financially sustainable.
Cities that have experienced busloads of migrants arrive in their cities include Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston and Washington, D.C. Abbott has said that others in the country needed to experience the problems caused to Texas because of the immigration problem.
“I am extending my hand to mayors across the country to find solutions,” Mayor Adams said during a press conference in El Paso, Texas with Mayor Oscar Leeser, the leader of that city. “I am extremely disappointed by what we have done to the cities of this country. The solutions must be implemented by the federal government,” Mayor Adams added.
According to the most recent data from the U.S. Customers and Broder Protection agency, more than 206,000 migrants attempted to enter the U.S. through the nation’s southern border in November of 2022. Those attempting to enter included individuals, families, and unaccompanied minors. Most began their journeys in Mexico and Central and South America countries, according to U.S. government officials.
Mayor Adams blames the federal government for the substantial number of migrants at the border. “This crisis has pitted mayors against each other,” he said. Mayor Adams, a former law enforcement official, said that he would present the issue to his colleagues this week at the United States Conference of Mayors winter meeting in Washington.
Mayor Adams said that he is a proponent of legal immigration and that legal migrants have a right to experience the “American dream.” He said that migrants with sponsors and family members are welcome in his city. There is a place for “those that the city does not have to care for in its care system,” he said.
Numerous political observers blame Congress for the situation at the southern border. Over the years, the two political parties have not been able to agree upon the issue. During his term in office President Biden has sent an immigration reform proposal to Congress. That body has not passed a significant immigration bill since 1986.
