On Tuesday, New York Mayor Eric Adams sounded the alarm about the border crisis, and Adams pointed the finger at President Joe Biden. “The president and the White House have failed New York City on this issue,” Adams said during a news conference at City Hall.
Adams escalated the next day… and the Democrats aren’t happy.
On Tuesday, a lawyer for New York Gov. Kathy Hochul sent an open letter to dispute the mayor’s characterization of this issue.
Democrat strategist Bill Neidhart urged “Democrats everywhere” to “condemn Eric Adams’ anti-immigrant rant.” The stratgegist added, “It’s no coincidence it’s being embraced and echoed by the RNC.”
Still, the most infuriated response came from MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan.
Hasan described Adams as a “Trump knockoff,” an MSNBC host’s worst nightmare.
“I have seen the Eric Adams clip claiming migrants will destroy New York City. It is awful. There is a reason why Republicans and far right folks are gleefully sharing it. New York Dems could have had Maya Wiley as mayor but they went for the ridiculous Adams, a Trump knock-off,” Hasan tweeted Thursday.
Some Republicans were, in fact, sharing the video of Adams.
Presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy shared the video of Adams and added, “This is the TRUTH.”
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said in a statement, “Mayor Adams is right: ‘New York City deserves better.’ It’s time for New York’s very own Senator Schumer and his Senate Democrats to pass the Secure the Border Act to end this Biden-created crisis.”
U.S. Rep. Nick LaLota, R-N.Y., tweeted Thursday, “The first step towards solving a problem is admitting you have one. Credit to Mayor Adams for being truthful in this clip about the scope of NYC’s migrant crisis. Now, he must repeal NYC’s sanctuary policies.”
However, some conservatives slammed Adams for flip-flopping on this issue.
Adams said in 2021, “Yes, New York City will remain a sanctuary city under an Adams administration.” At the time, Adams was the Democratic nominee for the mayoral race.
Now, Adams is speaking in starker terms.
“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,” the mayor said Wednesday at a town hall. “This issue will destroy New York City… Staten Island is saying, ‘Send them out to Manhattan.’ … Queens is saying, ‘Send them out to Brooklyn.’ That’s not a game we can play.”
He concluded, “The city we knew, we’re about to lose. And we’re all in this together, all of us.”
Watch the video here —
BREAKING: Mayor Adams basically conceding New York City is done because of illegal immigration and warns New Yorkers illegals will flood ALL neighborhoods. pic.twitter.com/Lj5E3BSvDX
— nycphotog (@nycphotog) September 7, 2023
Eric Adams today: "[The migrant crisis] is going to destroy New York City."
Eric Adams 2 years ago: https://t.co/cLymBL5N0n pic.twitter.com/bHtvBTVS6E
— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) September 7, 2023
I have seen the Eric Adams clip claiming migrants will destroy New York City. It is awful. There is a reason why Republicans and far right folks are gleefully sharing it.
New York Dems could have had Maya Wiley as mayor but they went for the ridiculous Adams, a Trump knock-off.
— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) September 7, 2023