NYC Mayor Adams Cancels Border Trip After State Department Warning

New York City Mayor Eric Adams talks to reporters in front of the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe after a visit to the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe in Mexico City on Oct. 4, 2023. Eduardo Verdugo/AP Photo

New York City Mayor Eric Adams canceled his visit to the southern border because of safety issues, a trip scheduled amid a jump in the number of illegal immigrants attempting to enter the United States.

Mr. Adams was supposed to visit McAllen and Brownsville, two cities in Texas, on March 24 to meet with immigration leaders. But because of safety concerns about one of the scheduled stops in Mexico, the trip has been put on hold, a New York City Hall spokesperson told The Hill. The cancellation comes as the southern border is seeing a massive influx of illegal aliens.

According to data from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, since the start of fiscal 2024, there have been more encounters in the southwest land border each month than in the same month in the previous fiscal year.

The total number of border encounters in the first five months of fiscal 2024—from October 2023 to February 2024—was more than 1.15 million, up by almost 12 percent from the 1.03 million in the same period in fiscal 2023.

If the visit to the south had proceeded as planned, it would have been Mr. Adams’s second visit to the border as mayor. His first trip occurred in January 2023, when he visited El Paso to ascertain how the Texas city was dealing with the influx of illegal aliens.

In October 2023, the mayor visited Colombia, Ecuador, and Mexico, during which time he asked people there not to take an illegal trip into the United States.

Mr. Adams was invited to visit Mexico by Sister Norma Pimentel, executive director of the Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley. His office did not clarify which Mexican city had safety concerns that forced the mayor to cancel his trip, which was scheduled as a Texas state law dealing with illegal immigrants is being challenged in court.

Senate Bill 4 makes it a state crime for any illegal alien to cross into Texas from Mexico other than from legal entry points. A person violating the rule can be punished with a six-month prison term. Repeat violations would subject the person to up to 20 years in prison.

The rule allows law enforcement authorities to seek papers from migrants and arrest them almost anywhere in the state. The law was signed into effect in December 2023 by Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.

Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court allowed the law to come into effect. But later, an appeals court allowed a lower court’s earlier blockade of the law to stand.

In an interview with The New York Times, Abril Luna, a spokeswoman with the police department in Brownsville, said, “If the law passes, of course, it will be enforced just like any other Texas laws.”

Migrant Crisis

Meanwhile, New York City is facing an illegal immigrant crisis. Since spring 2022, about 183,000 illegal immigrants have arrived in the city, the mayor recently revealed. The city’s shelter system is housing 93,000 individuals, and entire hotels have been rented out in recent months.

The city has reached an agreement with the Legal Aid Society to end the right to shelter for adult immigrants after a 30-day stay. The rule does not affect families with children.

In a March 20 op-ed, political commentator and constitutional expert Betsy McCaughey criticized the agreement, warning that it “dooms” New York City to a financial disaster as illegal aliens will flock to the city.

“The agreement also applies only to single adults. A staggering 78 percent come with children and get priority placement in hotels,” Ms. McCaughey, who also contributes to The Epoch Times, wrote.

“The city currently spends a whopping $387 per night for food and a roof alone for each family and shells out more money for free medical care, education, and legal services. This agreement does zero to alleviate those staggering costs.”

“The fine print says illegal immigrants have a shot at staying longer if they obtain driver’s licenses, follow shelter rules, and show good behavior, or—get this one—apply for public benefits,“ she also wrote. ”And this is a ‘non-exhaustive’ list of reasons making illegal immigrants eligible to stay longer.”

Fake green cards and Social Security cards are being sold to illegal immigrants in the city, something that former Homeland Security special agent Bruce Foucart warned could turn out to be a security disaster.

A person with fake IDs could “load up a truck with bombs ... and bring it underneath the Holland Tunnel and create something major and disastrous,” Mr. Foucart told the New York Post.

“For someone that wants to do terrorist activity or is a national security threat, it’s easy to establish this second life within the U.S. ... I guarantee right now, we’re just waiting for another 9/11,” he added.

In an interview with Fox News last month, former President Donald Trump said he plans to campaign hard in New York and suggested that there is a chance he could swing the traditionally Democrat state to his side in the upcoming presidential election.

“Do I think we have a chance? New York has changed a lot in the last two years,“ he said. ”We have migrants all over the street. They are living on Madison Avenue. Nobody can believe what’s happened to New York.”

President Trump claimed that New York City residents are “unhappy” because crime rates have hit “record levels.”

“The people of New York are angry,“ he said. ”People that would have never voted for me because I’m a Republican. I mean, they’re Democrats. ... I think they’re going to vote for me. So I think we’re going to give New York a heavy shot.”