NYC Mayor Signals Break In Direct Communications With Biden As Migrant Crisis Escalates

New York City Mayor Eric Adams suggested on Tuesday that it has been a while since he spoke with President Joe Biden despite the Big Apple struggling to grapple with a growing influx of migrants.

Adams, a Democrat, told a local ABC affiliate that he has not communicated with Biden “since earlier this year.” He did not indicate a specific time, but Adams told CNN last month that he had not spoken to Biden since 2022.

During the new interview, the mayor added that he did speak with White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients on Monday and shared his “thoughts and ideas and the economic impact” of the migrant situation.

Adams declared last week that the cost of dealing with more than 110,000 asylum seekers would “destroy” New York City and then announced “steps” to stabilize his city’s finances — including budget cuts that could affect public schools, police, firefighters, and sanitation.

“Today, with approximately 10,000 asylum seekers still arriving each month, the city estimates this mounting crisis will cost taxpayers $12 billion over three fiscal years — an amount that will continue to grow without federal and state intervention and support,” Adams said in remarks over the weekend.

New York Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul told Spectrum News late last month that the White House has committed to “surge resources” and to send Homeland Security Department officials to Manhattan to help contend with the migrants.

The White House recently said the Biden administration has made a request to Congress for $600 million in additional funds for the Shelter and Services Program to help localities take care of migrants, which could give a boost to the roughly $140 million in federal funding already provided to New York City, and it seeks $800 million for next year, according to The New York Times.

Federal officials have also reportedly sent out messages to migrants urging eligible individuals to apply for work permits.

“We are working very closely with the city of New York,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in an interview with CNN on Monday. “We sent an assessment team here that devised approximately 25 recommendations. We are executing on those recommendations. We will address this together.”

Still, some high-profile figures in New York politics say the Biden administration has not done enough. Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg penned a New York Times guest essay warning that Democrats will suffer at the ballot box in 2024 if more is not done to address the migrant crisis.

Adams met with Vice President Kamala Harris on Monday as she visited New York City to mark the 22nd anniversary of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, but the mayor said they only engaged in “small talk” at the memorial site, per the New York Post.