Democrat New York City Mayor Eric Adams said President Joe Biden’s administration is partly to blame for the country’s struggles to handle asylum seekers and illegal border crossers attempting to enter the United States.
Adams denied that his criticisms have ever been directed at migrants.
“It is not about the asylum-seekers and migrants, all of us came from somewhere to pursue the American Dream,” Adams said. “It is the irresponsibility of the Republican Party in Washington for refusing to do real immigration reform, and it’s the irresponsibility of the White House for not addressing this problem.”
In his comments, Adams laid the blame for the present immigration and border security situation at the feet of both Republicans and the presidential administration of his fellow Democrat, Biden.
Adams Slams Migrant Busing to NYC
Many of the questions Adams faced during his Tuesday press conference focused on his criticism of migrant buses arriving in New York City. On Monday, Adams posted on Twitter that Abbott was sending new busloads of migrants to New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Denver, and Washington, D.C.“It is also impossible to ignore the fact that Abbott is now targeting five cities run by Black mayors,” Adams’ Monday post reads. “Put plainly, Abbott is using this crisis to hurt Black-run cities.”
Abbott has been sending busloads of migrants to other states for months now and has targeted self-described “sanctuary cities,” which are cities that do not cooperate with federal immigration authorities that might arrest or deport illegal immigrants. New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Denver, and Washington, D.C. have all described themselves as sanctuary cities in the past.
Outgoing Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot has similarly criticized Abbott for sending migrant buses to her city. On Sunday, Lightfoot sent Abbott a letter pleading with the Texas governor not to send the migrant buses.
“Since we began responding to the arrival of migrants sent by your delegation in August 2022, we have shouldered the responsibility of caring for more than 8,000 men, women, and children with no resources of their own. That number continues to grow,” Lightfoot wrote.
Abbott responded to Lightfoot’s letter, saying, “As the mayor of a self-declared sanctuary city, it is ironic to hear you complain about Chicago’s struggle to deal with a few thousand illegal immigrants, which is a fraction of the record-high numbers we deal with in Texas on a regular basis.”
Biden’s Border Plan
The Biden administration has been preparing several new policies in hopes of reducing the number of illegal border crossings and the overall rush of migrants to the U.S. southern border.Another Biden administration policy would generally require asylum seekers to have applied for asylum in any countries they passed through on their way to the United States. U.S. immigration authorities would presume an asylum applicant is ineligible for entry if they did not apply for asylum in other third-party countries, though applicants could still argue a case for why they should be given asylum status in the United States.
Last week, Biden also authorized the U.S. Department of Defense to deploy reserve troops to the U.S. southern border to assist border officials in countering cross-border drug trafficking.