Queens residents accuse Mayor Adams of ‘destroying’ NYC with handling of migrant crisis
Fuming New Yorkers accosted Mayor Eric Adams over the weekend, claiming he is going to “destroy” the city with his handling of the migrant crisis — as the mayor made a subtle dig at President Biden.
Queens residents protesting a “tent city” at Creedmoor Psychiatric Center held signs and chanted “No Tent City” and “One-Term Mayor” on Sunday during a post-Indian Parade event at St. Gregory the Great Church in Bellerose.
“You have a right to decide who you want to vote on as mayor. That’s how you show your power,” Adams said to the group, according to the audio obtained by The Post.
Adams continued: “If you feel I’m not doing the job the last 18 months with the mess I inherited, the mess I inherited. You have a right to do what you want.”
Phil Orenstein, a leader in the Queens Village Republican Club, urged Adams to “tell your president” to stop sending migrants into New York.
“My president? There’s one president,” Adams replied.
Heard on audio, Orenstein expressed the anger of the community over the migrant encampment at Creedmoor — and told Adams to “send them back” to Mexico and Washington, DC.
“What about Rikers Island? There are abandoned buildings there. They have 20,000 to 30,000 [migrants] there. But not at Creedmoor. Not in our neighborhood. You’re going to destroy our community, destroy our property values. There’s going to be crime. There’s going to be drug taking,” Orenstein said, according to the audio.
“People are devastated. The idea of bringing 1,000 single, able-bodied migrants right into our neighborhood. There’s no curfew. They’re unvetted. What diseases do they have? Who are they,” he vented.
Orenstein continued, “What I need for you to do as one of your constituents is send them back to Washington, DC. Send them back to Mexico. Have some guts. Stand up for your people. We are your people!”
Adams was quick to dismiss the calls to deport migrants as illegal, asking, “If I do that, would I be breaking the law?”
Orenstein shot back, “Would you be breaking the law? There’s no sanctuary law on the book.”
The mayor stood his ground, warning that if New York City were to deport asylum seekers, he could be sanctioned by the federal government, and the city would lose the funds needed to fix the problem.
“I’ve been saying it over and over again. This is going to come to your community. We need to be united together to stop this. This should not be going to Bellerose,” he said.
Adams told opponents to help him light a fire on President Biden to help “fix the border” instead of attacking him.
“We should all be saying to this president, `This is not right.’ We should all be saying this. I have for one year been saying this.”
“Solve the problem by going to the source. Join me to tell Washington, `Stop doing this to us.’ That’s how we solve the problem,” added Hizzoner.
At another point during the tense discussion, the mayor said, “This should not be happening to New York City.”
“I need your help to say, `Fix this mess at the border.'”
But the critics responded with, “Close the border!”
The mayor revealed last week that the migrant crunch in the Big Apple is expected to cost $12 billion over the next three years — and a whopping $20 million a month to house migrants on Randall’s Island, according to a state source — or $10,000 per asylum-seeker if the site fills all of its 2,000 beds.
About 100,000 men, women and children seeking asylum have arrived in New York City since early 2022, with more than half currently staying in 198 emergency shelters across the five boroughs.
“We are past our breaking point,” Adams said Wednesday. “With more than 57,300 individuals currently in our care on an average night, it amounts to $9.8 million a day, almost $300 million a month and nearly $3.6 billion a year.”
