New York City Mayor Eric Adams rebuked Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) during remarks at a law school, declaring her approach to the city's illegal immigration crisis undoubtedly "wrong."
"Gov. Hochul has been ... a partner on subway safety, on crime, on a host of things, but I think this issue, I think, is wrong," Adams said during a fireside chat at the New York Law School on Tuesday.
Adams's statement is the latest ugly show of infighting among Democrats who manage cities and states that have been inundated with illegal immigrants who have shown up on their front steps after being released at the southern border. The cities and states are sanctuary zones, which means they will not work with federal immigration law enforcement to turn over illegal immigrants who are arrested or convicted of most crimes.
Adams went after Hochul on Tuesday for not requiring other cities and counties statewide to help the five boroughs.
"She's the governor of the state of New York. New York City is in that state. Every county in the state should be part of this. We have .05 of the land mass in this state. And we have 90, almost 99% of the migrant asylum-seekers," Adams said.
The first-term mayor said Hochul faced a "real leadership moment" in how she would help the city carry the burden of people seeking shelter, food, permanent housing, jobs, and more.
"No community should be going through this. But the reality is we have run out of space. And I have to open wherever. You think I enjoyed displacing soccer — children playing soccer on Randall's Island? I don't enjoy disrupting the community in Staten Island. I don't enjoy watching this happen to New York City residents, but we are required to provide basic care," Adams said. "We are the economic engine of this state. New York goes down, the entire state goes down."
The state has helped nearly 100,000 immigrants and has 59,000 people in its care at present. Tens of thousands of people are housed at 194 facilities across the city. The recent opening of one such shelter on Staten Island has triggered protests from residents who do not want facilities opened in their communities.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas sent letters to Adams and Hochul on Monday in response to the two officials demanding that Washington do more to help the state. The DHS noted in a statement to the Washington Examiner that the federal government had given the city $140 million to respond to the crisis.
Last week, Hochul targeted the White House as the reason for the crisis and said during a speech that the problem "originated with the federal government, and it must be resolved with the federal government.”
A spokesperson for Adams backed Hochul's complaints Monday.
"New York City has led the nation in handling this humanitarian crisis for more than a year, and we are grateful that our federal partners are now engaging in a collaborative process, but New Yorkers deserve the facts, so let’s be clear: Our requests from the federal government remain the same, and quite frankly, unaddressed," an Adams spokesperson wrote in an email.
The spokesperson said the city's meeting with the Biden administration failed to consider how the city would address the continued arrival of immigrants from the border.
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Adams warned Tuesday that the city will hit a breaking point where the immigrant crisis will have serious negative implications.
"New Yorkers, I want to be honest with you. This keeps me up at night," Adams said. "This could erode everything that we have accomplished. This is, this is a humanitarian crisis of a national proportion."