New York City Mayor Eric Adams suddenly canceled a meeting about the city’s migrant crisis with senior officials at the White House on Thursday, just hours after departing New York for Washington, D.C.
A spokesperson for the mayor’s office said the cancellation was not because of a threat to public safety but did not state the cause of the cancellation. The mayor had arrived in Washington but quickly got onto a plane to return to New York.
DEMOCRATS LAUNCH ATTACK ADS AGAINST VULNERABLE REPUBLICANS OVER ELECTION OF SPEAKER JOHNSON
Adams was expected to join two other Democratic city mayors to discuss the crisis on the United States southern border in Washington, D.C., on Thursday. The other mayors consisted of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Denver Mayor Mike Johnston. All three were expected to address the overwhelming flood of immigrants facing each city. New York City alone has seen more than 100,000 immigrants since spring 2022.
On my way to DC to join my fellow mayors to talk with our federal partners about the asylum seeker crisis. Follow along throughout the day. pic.twitter.com/K6bvwP4gwQ
— Mayor Eric Adams (@NYCMayor) November 2, 2023
The three mayors joined mayors from Los Angeles and Houston in writing a letter last week saying they are appreciative of President Joe Biden’s efforts to help with immigration so far but that more changes were needed.
“The crisis is we have folks here who desperately want to work. And we have employers here who desperately want to hire them,” Johnston said. “And we have a federal government that’s standing in the way of employers who want to hire employees who want to work.”
The New York mayor also canceled his scheduled meetings with leaders in the House and Senate. A city spokesperson said all of Adams’s meetings would be rescheduled but that the other mayors will remain in Washington.
The mayors are hoping to secure $5 billion in federal assistance, but the White House has only requested $1.4 billion from Congress, according to a White House spokesperson.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
“The Biden-Harris Administration is committed to supporting local jurisdictions hosting recently arrived migrants and we will continue working to deliver support in every way we can,” the spokesperson told the Washington Examiner in an emailed statement on Wednesday. “We have asked Congress for $1.4 billion in additional grant funding to support local communities and have ask for additional personnel to build upon the improvements DHS has made to processing work permits.”
The Washington Examiner reached out to the mayor’s office for more information.
