On Illegal Immigration, Mayor Eric Adams Is an Incoherent Mess

By Charles C. W. Cooke

Thursday, September 07, 2023

 

Mayor Eric Adams, of New York City, is worried about illegal immigration. Here’s the New York Post:

 

Mayor Eric Adams warned that the raging migrant crisis will “destroy” New York City and tore into President Biden for ignoring his pleas for help, saying the White House has given “no support” for the thousands of asylum seekers arriving each month.

 

“I’m gonna tell you something, New Yorkers, never in my life have I had a problem that I didn’t see an ending to. I don’t see an ending to this,” Adams said at a town hall on the Upper West Side Wednesday night. “This issue will destroy New York City. Destroy New York City.”

 

Adams is also angry with Governor Greg Abbott, of Texas, for having sent a whole bunch of illegal immigrants to New York:

 

Adams also blasted Texas Gov. Greg Abbott as a “madman” for busing illegal border crossers to New York and other liberal cities.

 

“Go item for item on what Eric Adams ran for as a candidate and look at what we accomplished in 20 months: We turned this city around in 20 months, and then what happened?” Adams said.

 

“Started with a madman down in Texas who decided he wanted to bus people up to New York City.”

 

Why? Why is that the behavior of a “madman”? What’s “mad” about it? Why should illegal immigrants be in Texas and not New York? New York City is a self-designated “sanctuary”; Texas is not. What did New Yorkers think that meant? Why are they surprised that a non-sanctuary jurisdiction such as Texas would “bus” illegal immigrants “up” to a sanctuary jurisdiction such as their own? Do they not own a dictionary? Did they think it was a joke? Was their willingness to serve as a “sanctuary” only operative when they believed that nobody would show up?

 

Specifically, Adams complains about the cost of dealing with illegal immigration, and the effect on the city’s resources that the illegal immigrants are having. Is it more “mad” for these costs to be borne by New York City than by Texas? If so, why? And why did nobody care when these costs were being paid by tiny Texas border towns instead of the world’s greatest metropolis? Last year, Adams refused to reject a bill that gave illegal immigrants in New York City the right to vote. What message did he think that sent? New York advertised itself as a haven, and others believed it. Should they not have?

 

As the kids say: Life comes at you fast.