The Make the Road organization this Friday accused New York Mayor Eric Adams of “xenophobia” and fomenting hatred towards recently arrived immigrants for his comments that they “will destroy the city” if their incessant flow is not stopped. It has resulted in the arrival of 110 thousand people since April 2022.
“What really threatens the future of this city is Mayor Adams’ xenophobia.“ His rhetoric and his approach toward asylum seekers remain absolutely unacceptable and dangerous for the people of this city,” Natalia Aristizabal, co-director of the organization, said in a statement.
He added that it is “frustrating” that the mayor has not so far accepted the proposal that activists have made for the city to extend the housing voucher program to newcomers, which until now has only been granted to citizens with legal residence.
The latest data from the city show that it is responsible for 60,000 immigrants, including more than 20,000 children, to whom it provides shelter, food, health care, legal help, and education for minors.
In recent weeks, an average of 3,000 have arrived per week, and the city is still looking for a place to house them, in addition to the shelters, it has improvised in hotels, soccer fields, gyms or old schools and giant tents erected for them.
Adams said last Wednesday that the arrival of thousands of immigrants will mean a deficit of $12 billion for the city, which will lead it to have to cut services to New Yorkers.
“It is extremely frustrating to see the mayor refuse to do the right thing on common sense policy issues like expanding access to housing vouchers, and instead try to fan the flames of hate against asylum seekers who were forced to leave everything behind to come here,” Aristizabal further noted.
He said the mayor must stop “scapegoating” new immigrants and work collaboratively with city, state and federal leaders to address people’s real needs.
“Everyone must step forward but blame games and divisive language are getting our city nowhere,” he said.
The New York Times headlines this Friday that the immigrant crisis has meant that “the Republican Party already has the Democratic crisis it wanted,” in relation to the fact that Democratic cities like New York and Los Angeles are sliding towards anti-immigration discourses due to fear of losing voters.
