(CNSNews.com) - New York Mayor Eric Adams says President Biden can and must take immediate steps to allow asylum-seekers to support themselves by legally holding jobs.

Some 52,000 undocumented migrants have made their way to New York City, Adams said, and he warned that number could jump to 100,000 very soon when Title 42, the public health authority ends on May 11.

"This is in the lap of the president of the United States," Adams said at a news conference on Wednesday.

The president of the United States can give us the ability to allow people to work...And that's what we're calling for."

Adams said the tens of thousands of illegal border crossers are "desperate to work," and he said the city has been "decimated" by the influx of people who cannot support themselves.

"Title 42 is getting ready to be released," Adams observed.

"What do you think is going to happen? Thousands of people are going to come across the border and potentially end up in New York City. So 52,000 can jump to 100,000 if we don't get this under control.

“It does this great city a disservice. We're calling on the Biden and Harris administration and the Department of Homeland Security -- they must use all tools that are available to resolve this issue.”

Adams said putting asylum-seekers to work "immediately" could be done "with a stroke of a pen."

"That's all it takes -- a stroke of a pen. The federal government must re-designate and extend temporary protected status, TPS, for Venezuela, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Sudan, South Sudan, Cameroon, and any of the African countries that are...also not on many people's radars" but are being taken care of by "imams in the Bronx."

"They must also expand and extend access to humanitarian parole to asylum seekers already in the United States and processed at the border."

Adams called for additional staffing at U.S. immigration offices to more quickly process the growing number of applications from asylum-seekers.

Adams noted that the asylum crisis is a national crisis: "It is why we need the federal government to take these necessary steps to allow asylum seekers to support themselves and integrate into our communities.

"We hear those who are saying, why aren't they working. Well, this is why they're not working. And they're not given the authorization for them to do so. And this is wrong."

Adams said the agriculture, food service, transportation, and manufacturing fields are all looking for employees. "We have an absence of employees in these fields. We have a willingness of a population that wants to fill these jobs. We need to bring that together. That is how we're going to solve this problem.”

According to US Citizenship and Immigration Services, "to work legally in the United States, you must present documentation to an employer showing that you have permission to work in the United States."

But most asylum seekers have to wait six months before they're eligible for a work permit, unless they're granted asylum in the meantime, which is unlikely, given the huge backlog of applications.