NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) – Mayor Eric Adams warned the migrant crisis "will destroy New York City," as 10,000 newcomers arrive each month with no end in sight and resources stretched thin.
The mayor gave the dire prediction at an Upper West Side town hall on Wednesday night.
"Let me tell you something, New Yorkers," Adams said. "Never in my life have I had a problem that I did not see an ending to. I don't see an ending to this. This issue will destroy New York City--destroy New York City."
"We're getting 10,000 migrants a month," he continued. "One time we were just getting Venezuela. Now we're getting Ecuador. Now we're getting Russian-speaking coming through Mexico. Now we're getting western Africa. Now people from all over the globe have made their minds up that they're going to come through the southern part of the border and come into New York City."
Pedestrians walk past migrants outside the Roosevelt Hotel, the city's migrant intake center, in August.Michael Nagle/Xinhua
As the city struggles to find places to house asylum seekers, Adams said ultimately "every community in this city is going to be impacted."
"We have a $12 billion deficit that we're going to have to cut," the mayor said. "Every service in this city is going to be impacted. All of us."
"The city we knew, we are about to lose," he added.
More than 110,000 migrants have received shelter and other assistance like food and health care from the city since last spring, with the number of people currently in the city's care nearing 60,000. More than 2,400 arrive each week, and an average of more than 10,000 come each month.
Adams has predicted the migrant influx will cost New York City taxpayers $12 billion over three years, a figure he has called unsustainable without additional federal and state help. At Wednesday's town hall, Adams said the city has received "no support on this national crisis."
So far the city has opened more than 200 emergency shelters, including 15 large-scale humanitarian relief centers. The locations of newer centers has been especially controversial, with protests erupting in recent weeks in neighborhoods in Staten Island, Queens and Brooklyn.
