New York Mayor Eric Adams called for blame on migrant influx: he ‘encouraged illegal immigration’

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New York City Mayor Eric Adams has blamed the border crisis on the federal government, raising eyebrows with some critics citing his own record of handling the influx of migrants.

Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, RN.Y., joined “Fox & Friends” Monday to discuss Adams’ visit and why she thinks he’s just as complicit in the southern border crisis.

“The mayor is right in the sense that he says this is a national crisis, but he has to say this is a national crisis created by Joe Biden,” Malliotakis told Lawrence Jones. “Joe Biden put in place the policies by executive order that created this mess. It wasn’t happening under President Trump. It wasn’t happening under President Obama, and it’s reached an all-time high.”

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Adams visited El Paso over the weekend, calling the border crisis a “national crisis,” while demanding federal aid to fight the surge.

“We’re not pointing fingers at El Paso, we’re not pointing fingers at Houston, we’re pointing fingers where we should be pointing, and that’s our national government,” Adams said Sunday. “It’s a national problem. We have to have real immigration reform.”

New York Mayor Eric Adams tours a CBP processing facility. (Fabien Levy)

But while he agrees with Adams’ assertion that change is imperative to easing the surge, Malliotakis argued that his actions have “encouraged” more migrants to make the journey.

“The mayor also encouraged illegal immigration,” Malliotakis said. “You saw yesterday how people were saying they wanted to go to New York with the mayor because they heard New York was hosting the migrants and providing for them.”

The mayor hosted migrants in hotels across the city, and one of them, the Row, was reportedly ransacked at the expense of US taxpayers.

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The facility’s massive food waste has sparked outrage, while costing taxpayers an estimated $650,000 a night to house migrants in the once-fashionable hotel.

There are more than 38,000 migrants in New York, 26,000 of whom are currently staying in Big Apple hotel rooms, according to Adams’ office.

“It uses New York City’s generous Housing Rights Act, which was intended for citizens of New York City who need to house our own homeless people, and yet it also floods the system, and taxpayers are now considering cuts to major fronts, firefighters and police,” she continued.

Adams’ visit follows a request for assistance from New York State to deal with the influx of asylum seekers fleeing to the Big Apple.

“Since last spring, the city has stepped up efforts to welcome approximately 40,000 asylum seekers, providing them with shelter, food and connections to a multitude of resources,” Adams said in a statement. “We opened 74 emergency shelters and four humanitarian aid centers at breakneck speed, and we did it almost entirely on our own.”

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He noted that the city is now at its “breaking point”.

Former El Paso U.S. Marshal Robert Almonte echoed Adams’ sentiment regarding the claim that the problem is a “national crisis” on “Fox & Friends First” Monday, congratulating him on his visit.

“Mayor Adam going there actually got a dose of reality,” Almonte told co-host Carley Shimkus. “He’s absolutely right. It was a border crisis that turned into a national crisis.”

“It’s very unfortunate, and when is it going to stop?” He continued. “And that’s the result of not having a plan to deal with the issues at the border.”

Authorities encountered 718,000 migrants in the first 100 days of fiscal 2023, with El Paso being the most active area.

Bailee Hill is associate editor of Fox News Digital. Story ideas can be sent to [email protected]

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