NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — Mayor Eric Adams is ready to put the thousands of asylum seekers to work after they were bused to New York City by the thousands from Texas this summer, saying it's "imperative" they be employed.
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"Think about this for a moment. We’re telling migrants and asylum seekers, ‘You can come to the country but for six months you can’t work.’ What? Six months you can’t work," Adams told Jen Judson, president of the National Press Club, in a sitdown interview in Washington D.C. on Tuesday.
Asylum seekers who come to the United States and seek work have to apply with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, a process that can take up to around six months after an asylum application is filed.
"So six months you are having people who just sit idly by, waiting. So who’s supposed to pick up the tab for that?" Adams added. "If the federal government is saying that for six months you can’t work, then the federal government should be saying for six months we [are] going to compensate you. Because someone has to pay for that."
Adams did not clarify if he was looking to place asylum seekers in the private sector or with jobs in the city, the New York Post reported.
Adams’ office told 1010 WINS last month that New York City has welcomed migrants with "open arms" while Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott uses them as "political pawns."
"Someone get this man a dictionary," said the mayor. "'Hypocrisy' is claiming you love America and then decrying the words on the Statue of Liberty."
It comes as 8,000 people, mostly bused from Texas, have arrived in New York in recent months, the outlet reported Sunday.
At the same time, the city has an unemployment rate of 6.1%, nearly double the national average of 3.7%.
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