In some of his strongest words yet, Mayor Eric Adams says the influx of asylum seekers is not going away and will "destroy New York City."
The mayor's comments came during a town hall in which he offered an ominous assessment of the ongoing migrant crisis.
"I don't see an ending to this. This issue will destroy New York City, destroy New York City," Adams said Wednesday night. "Month after month I stood up and said this is gonna come to a neighborhood near you. Well, we're here. We're getting no support on this national crisis and we're receiving no support."
The next day, faith and community leaders delivered a show up support for the migrants on Staten Island, which has become a recent gathering point for boisterous opposition.
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"Many Staten Islanders are saying yes to compassion in our backyards, yes to shelters for asylum seekers in our borough," one speaker said.
Protestors sought to drown out clergy, who noted many of the people in opposition are the children of immigrants themselves.
"We don't even know who's living in here. And if they would have did it right and they would have came here legally, we would know and we would have different feelings towards it," one protestor said.
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The city is housing migrants at St. John Villa Academy at the foot of the Verrazano Bridge amid strong community opposition.
"Staten Island is saying send them out to Manhattan, Manhattan is saying send them out to Queens, Queens is saying send them out to Brooklyn," Adams said amid his Wednesday remarks.
Faith leaders at the Thursday rally said this is a crisis the city can get through.
"This is not the first crises that New Yorkers have faced. We are, for goodness sake, New Yorkers. This will not be the last crisis that we face if we've made it through the pandemic. We can make it through this crisis," Rev. Dr. Demetrius S. Carolina said.
Adams projects the migrant crisis will create a $12 billion budget gap, with the city supporting 110,000 asylum seekers and counting.
