Following President-elect Donald Trump’s victory over Vice President Kamala Harris, Democratic New York City Mayor Eric Adams told reporters on Tuesday that American voters “communicated loudly and clearly” on the issue of immigration. The mayor emphasized that the United States currently has a “broken immigration system that needs to be fixed.”
Asked whether he would express concerns to Trump regarding the potential for “mass deportations” in New York City under the president-elect’s immigration plans, Adams told reporters, “My concern is one concern. We keep tinkering around the edges; we keep having this philosophical conversation about it. The voters communicated loudly and clearly. We have a broken immigration system. It needs to be fixed. That’s the only conversation I want.”
Throughout his comments to reporters on Tuesday, Adams repeatedly acknowledged that the current immigration system in the United States is “broken” and “needs to be fixed.” The mayor explained that New York City has been “devastated” by the immigration system under the Biden-Harris administration. Despite 220,000 illegal immigrants and asylum seekers arriving in the city, Adams said the Biden-Harris administration offered “no financial assistance,” leaving the city responsible for paying billions of dollars to shelter, feed, and provide resources for illegal immigrants and asylum seekers.
READ MORE: Illegal immigrant debit card program ended in NYC
“I don’t want to see that happen again,” Adams said. The mayor added that he does not want to see the kind of immigration problems currently impacting other major U.S. cities, such as Chicago, Los Angeles, Denver, and Houston. “Let’s fix our immigration system,” he said. “Anything other than that, I’m not interested in that conversation. We have a broken system.”
“Voters made this the top of their list,” Adams continued. “When I was talking about it, everyone was being dismissive of me, and voters said, ‘This is a problem.'”
Pressed for more details regarding the mayor’s message on immigration, Adams told reporters that U.S. cities “should not be dealing with a national problem.” The Democratic mayor emphasized that New York City needs additional funding to handle the immigration crisis facing the city.
Adams also addressed the issue of migrant crime, which has skyrocketed throughout the city under the Biden-Harris administration. “There are those here who are repeated offenders; we need to address that,” the mayor said. “You don’t come to our city and our country and commit violent acts on innocent people.”
