New York City Mayor Eric Adams criticized Joe Biden Wednesday for withholding much-needed relief to mitigate the city’s migrant crisis — all while insisting he will support the President’s re-election even if someone stronger on border issues enters the race.
After being shown the cover of today’s New York Post, which features a lone border patrol agent staring down thousands of migrants waiting to cross into Texas, Adams admitted he was “confused” why the Biden administration still won’t help with asylum seekers even after his tenth trip to Washington to beg for subsidy.
“I am lost. I am confused on this topic on why we still, almost 20 months later, we’re still talking about this issue and it has inundated the city,” Adams said during an interview on Fox 5.
“We’re at 150,000 [migrants]. There’s $5 billion in our budget. $12 billion over the three-year period. It is really impacting the basic services in our city and we need relief,” he said.
Adams was then asked if he would vote for someone else in the upcoming presidential election if there was a candidate who said they wanted to “take a different approach to the border.”
Despite his grievances — and the fact that just a day ago Hizzoner called on New Yorkers to flood the streets of Washington DC to protest the overwhelming cost of the migrant crisis — Adams said he still plans to vote for Biden in 2024.
“When it comes down to presidential races, it’s more than just one specific item,” Adams said in the interview.
“This is a painful one. But it’s the totality of what the policies that they stand for and when I look at the field now, Biden is the person that I would vote for,” he said.
Adams continued to defend Biden, noting he “likes his style” because he has a “blue-collar mindset.”
The mayor was able to meet with Biden several times, trying to get help with the crush of asylum seekers that has inundated New York City’s shelter system and led to unpopular budget cuts — though the two never reached any type of agreement.
After leaving DC on his last trip earlier this month, a disheartened Adams conceded to reporters, “Help is not on the way.”
Wednesday morning Adams detailed the extensive, yet seemingly uneventful, meetings he’s had with Biden administrators.
“I met with him several times on this issue. We’ve met with the senior staff on this issue, but it has to be resolved. And meetings are not the resolution. The resolution is a decompression strategy, giving us the proper funding we deserve, securing our borders and letting people work,” Adams said, before remarking, “This is the most baffling part.”
Adams then slammed the “black market” of migrants who do not pay taxes but work as food delivery drivers but lauded the city for helping to “stabilize” about 57% of workers who come into the city.
“If we’re given the support, we can transition this,” Adams declared. “But we’re still getting almost 4,000 [migrants] a week.”
The mayor, who this week enlisted New Yorkers to help his cause, declined once again to provide specifics about how and when people should protest in DC.
“I’m not pushing this off on New Yorkers,” he said. “This is not our design… I need to connect New Yorkers to the source of the problems.”