Democratic New York City Mayor Eric Adams raised concerns that the city’s migrant crisis will create more crime during a press conference Tuesday.
Migrants that are arriving and unable to work in the U.S. legally have become a challenge for the city, Adams said during the news conference, where he was asked about rising crime. Out of the more than 100,000 migrants that have arrived to the city, only 2,200 have been approved for work permits, Anne Williams-Isom, the city’s deputy mayor for health and human services, said.
“When I talk about the devastation impact that the migrant and asylum seekers, people only think about the volume of people that are coming in. There are byproducts to this, cuts to services, like we had to postpone a police class, looking at some of the budgetary cuts, having a body of people, many young, who can’t work,” Adams said.
“I mean you don’t even need an imagination to figure out that if you have someone four, five months, and say ‘you cannot work, you cannot feed your family, you cannot provide for yourself,’ what happens? You know, lack of opportunities, an idle mind is the devil’s workshop, as they say,” Adams said.
The White House and Adams have had conversations about addressing the overwhelming crisis in recent months, but the federal government has failed to take control, Adams said. (RELATED: Biden Admin Asks Immigration Judges To Loosen Restrictions On Child Migrants — There’s Just One Problem)
.@NYCMayor is asked about crime in the subway and seems to suggest migrants are to blame
“If you have someone 4-5 months and said you cannot work, you cannot feed your family…what happens? Lack of opportunities, you know, an idle mind is the devil’s workshop, as they say.” pic.twitter.com/0x0VR1l4XU
— Morgan McKay (@morganfmckay) December 26, 2023
In September, Adams said there would be a 5% budget cut across city programs and services amid the influx of migrants. As migrants continue arriving to the city, Adams suspects there will be more visible effects of the crisis.
“There are a lot of things that are feeding off of the migrant policy that, as I said a few months ago, we’re going to start seeing the physical aspects of this crisis. We’ve done a good job of keeping that physical aspect away from New Yorkers, but the dam has burst,” Adams said.
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