Taste of immigration chaos has NYC mayor sounding like a Republican demanding reform | Opinion
Migrants have been pouring into Texas in droves since President Joe Biden took office in 2021. Nearly 2.4 million migrants entered Texas and other border states in 2022 alone, overwhelming towns, exasperating law enforcement, and pushing Gov. Greg Abbott to throw all efforts available to maintain law and order. To make a political point, Abbott has bused migrants to various states such as New York, which declared itself a sanctuary state on illegal immigration.
In a townhall on the Upper West Side on Wednesday night, New York Mayor Eric Adams confessed that New York’s position would irrevocably harm his city.
“Month after month, I stood here and said this is going to come to a neighborhood near you. Well, we’re here. We’re here,” Adams says.
A Republican saying that would be called xenophobic, no?
“I’m gonna tell you something NYers, never in my life have I had a problem that I didn’t see an ending to. I don’t see an ending to this. This issue will destroy New York City. Destroy New York City,” an exasperated Adams said.
He continued, making a vague plea: “We are getting no support on this national crisis. ... I don’t see an ending to this.”
Adams says 10,000 migrants a month have been going through New York City. In a 2017 tweet, he seemed to welcome them.
Texas been dealing with an influx thousands of times more than that, every month, since Biden took office. Texas officials have been vocal about the need for more federal logistical and financial support on border security and immigration procedures.
Now, New York City receives a fraction of the migrants Texas had and Adams — a Democrat — becomes a convert who suddenly wants to crack down on immigration. He sounded like someone who wants not just to help migrants but to actually stop the flow. if Adams’ political party had been unknown, he would have sounded like a member of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus.
Abbott received incredible criticism for busing migrants outside Texas. There were even calls for lawsuits or criminal investigations. But now that New York has dealt with a fraction of what Texas has been handling for years, suddenly Democrats who have shrugged their shoulders, ignored the problem, or even advocated for a looser immigration process — or certainly have not advocated for tighter border security — these folks are telling us that it’s a huge problem.
The mayor is right, of course. It’s just unfortunate that he had to walk a mile in Texas’ boots before he felt the urgency to throw up his hands and call for change.
This story was originally published September 7, 2023 at 2:02 PM.
