New York City Will Be Destroyed by Migrant Influx—Eric Adams

New York City Mayor Eric Adams has warned that the massive influx of migrants to his city will "destroy" it.

During a town hall on Wednesday, Adams said he doesn't see an end in sight to the crisis.

"Let me tell you something, New Yorkers. Never in my life have I had a problem that I did not see an ending to," the Democrat said. "I don't see an ending to this. This issue will destroy New York City."

Adams has been sounding the alarm about the crisis and calling on state and federal officials for help as his city has struggled to find housing for the high numbers of asylum seekers that have arrived.

The problem has been exacerbated after governors including Texas Gov. Greg Abbott—who Adams called a "madman"—began busing migrants to New York City and other Democrat-led cities.

Abbott began sending busloads of migrants to Democrat-run cities last year. He said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, on Tuesday that Texas has so far transported more than 35,000 migrants to "self-declared sanctuary cities," including over 13,000 to New York City.

In a statement to Newsweek, Abbott spokesperson Andrew Mahaleris said: "The hypocrisy of Mayor Adams is astounding.

"Mayor Adams was proud to tout his self-described sanctuary city status until Texas began busing migrants to New York City to provide relief to our overrun and overwhelmed border communities. With millions of residents, New York is only dealing with a fraction of what our small border communities deal with on a day-to-day basis."

Adams said on Wednesday there are already 110,000 migrants in the city, and about 10,000 arriving every month.

It began with migrants from Venezuela, Adams said, but then the city saw an influx of people from Ecuador and Russian speakers coming through Mexico.

"Now we're getting Western Africa, now we're getting people from all over the globe that made their minds up that they're gonna come through the southern part of the border and coming into New York City and everyone is saying it's New York City's problem," he said. "Every community in this city is going to be impacted."

Adams recently announced that housing and caring for migrants could cost the city $12 billion over three years without state or federal intervention.

He said on Wednesday: "We have a $12 billion deficit that we're going to have to cut. Every service in this city is going to be impacted, all of us... I said it last year when we had 15,000 and I'm telling you now with 110,000. The city we knew, we're about to lose, and we are all in this together, all of us."

New Yorkers overwhelmingly agree with Adams that the influx of migrants to the city is a serious problem, according to a recent poll.

A Siena College survey conducted in August found 82 percent of voters believe the influx is a serious problem, including a majority—54 percent—who say it is a very serious problem.

The poll also found a majority (58 percent) say New Yorkers have already done enough and should now slow the flow of migrants instead of accepting new arrivals.

Newsweek has contacted Adams' office and the White House for comment via email.

Update 9/11/23, 5 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with comment from Andrew Mahaleris.