(NewsNation) — New York City Mayor Eric Adams visited El Paso, Texas, on Sunday to get a first-hand look at the migrant crisis at the border.
Thousands of migrants have been bused to New York over the past year. The mayor says they need help and it is costing the city billions.
In El Paso, Adams said he feels there’s not a sense of urgency for the border crisis from the federal government and that a lot of the burden is falling on mayors of border towns and mayors of large cities like himself.
Adams talked about how he is going to take the mantle along with other mayors because there was just simply a lack of coordination at the top.
“People are coming here to pursue the American dream,” Adams said. “And that dream shouldn’t become a nightmare because of lack of coordination.”
On Saturday, Adams met with border agents and city officials from El Paso. He got to see the crisis up close as migrants continue to sleep outside in shelters on the streets.
Adams said that the migrant influx could cost New York City as much as $2 billion dollars in taxpayer money.
In 2022, border agents processed a record of more than 2.3 million migrant encounters at the southern border. So far this year, they have more than 50,000 migrant encounters per week and 7,600 per day.
Over the summer, governors of border states began sending migrants who had crossed the border to cities like Chicago, Washington, DC and New York.
Adams has criticized governors Greg Abbott of Texas, and Ron DeSantis of Florida for doing this as a political stunt. He did also urge the Biden administration to take the crisis more seriously.
Abbott, perhaps one of the most vocal critics of the Biden administration, tweeted about the issue.
“Texas stepped up when President Biden abandoned the border. We’ve deployed the Texas National Guard and state troopers to stop deadly drugs, weapons, and people from entering our state. While Biden refuses to enforce federal law, Texas will protect our country,” Abbott shared on social media.
“We need help,” Adams continued. “And that is why we are calling on the national government to not put this burden on our cities. El Paso should not be going through this Washington, Houston, New York. None of our smalls or large cities should be experiencing this.”
After President Biden took his first historic trip to the border. Just last week, it was announced by some border agents that there is more construction on the border wall.
Adams says so far 36,000 Migrants have been sent to New York City. He says despite asking for help from the federal government, he does want New York to remain a sanctuary city.