New York City Mayor Adams has dealt with a massive influx of migrants in his city more than ever recently. Many NYC residents have been outraged by the overpopulation of their already crowded city. Still, they are also angered at the fact that many migrants have been treated better by the government than native NYC residents. Since April 2022, New York City has welcomed more than 180,000 migrants, many of whom have come from the U.S. southern border to the Big Apple via bussing.
Many NYC migrants have been granted residency and large sums of money by the government. Earlier this year, NYC sued 17 bus companies due to massive groups of migrants being relocated to the city. Recently, Mayor Adams has come up with a new proposal to allocate the mass influx of migrants.
During a press briefing, NYC Mayor Adams stated that many of the migrants who have arrived within the past two years are still ineligible for work. Before his audience, Adams seemingly implied a solution to the economic problem. Adams suggested that he would rather see many of the migrants take up jobs as lifeguards in the city’s public beaches, pools, and waterparks since the migrants are “excellent swimmers”. Adams also claimed his reasoning was due to the decrease in lifeguard employees throughout the New York City area recently, whereas he believes migrants could fill those jobs.
In the past, Adams has supported the southern border as a means of a checkpoint for migrants to enter the country with work permits. After a trip through Central America in October of 2023, Adams stated that he felt migrants had the right to seek jobs in the U.S. despite the impact of current border issues on American job wages. Adams further stated that many migrants with eligible skills are willing to work in America, however, that is halted due to “bureaucracy” being in the way.