(Headline USA) New York City Mayor Eric Adams warned this week that the city could be forced to cut a number of public services due to the massive influx of illegal immigrants if the Biden administration allows the Trump-era Title 42 to expire on Wednesday as expected.
The annual “State of the City’s Economy and Finances” report, which was released on Thursday, found that New York City taxpayers have been spending $1 billion per year on housing, education, food and other expenditures for illegal immigrants.
If this trend continues, Adams said, public services will have to decrease across the board.
“Truth be told, if corrective measures are not taken soon, we may very well be forced to cut or curtail programs New Yorkers rely on, and the pathway to house thousands more is uncertain,” Adams said in a statement Sunday, noting that the city’s shelters already were overflowing and overextended.
“These are not choices we want to make, but they may become necessary, and I refuse to be forced to choose new arrivals over current New Yorkers,” he continued. “I’ll say it again—we need a plan, we need assistance, and we need it now.”
The flood of illegal immigrants into New York could become even worse if the Biden administration proceeds with lifting Title 42, the Trump-era policy that allowed border officials to immediately deport any migrant who failed to meet asylum requirements.
Adams said Title 42 has been essential to managing the flow of asylum seekers.
“The tool the federal government has used to manage those coming over the border is set to expire this week, and we have been told in no uncertain terms that, beginning today, we should expect an influx of busses coming from the border and that more than 1,000 additional asylum seekers will arrive in New York City every week,” Adams said. “We are in urgent need for help.”
New York City has “managed this crisis entirely on its own,” Adams claimed, adding that the federal government needs to provide additional funding and other assistance.
“We need our partners in the state to acknowledge they too have a responsibility here, and to provide the resources we’ve asked,” he said. “And we need New Yorkers to understand that, so far, they have been asked to shoulder this burden almost entirely alone, despite the fact that this challenge originated far beyond our city’s borders.”
