Mayor Eric Adams traveled to Mexico Wednesday to begin a campaign focused on dissuading migrants from traveling to New York City, which is reeling from a record influx of illegal immigrants.
Adams arrived in Mexico City Wednesday evening, kicking off his four-day tour in Central and South America. He will also travel to Ecuador and Colombia in the coming days.
“This is the type of conversation we believe we need to have both local, national, and international to come up with a resolution,” the mayor said before flying to Mexico.
Heading off on our asylum seeker fact finding mission in Mexico, Ecuador and Colombia.
This crisis didn’t start in New York City — but we’re stepping up to lead and develop solutions at the local, national and international levels. pic.twitter.com/FQckNNCB57
— Mayor Eric Adams (@NYCMayor) October 4, 2023
While in Mexico’s capital, Adams met with business leaders, investors, and Mexico’s consul general, who is based in New York, before taking a private tour of the Basilica de Guadalupe.
On the ground in Mexico City. Off to meetings with the Consul General and then to the sacred Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Can’t wait to get to work with our partners in the region. pic.twitter.com/NpRdYffepD
— Mayor Eric Adams (@NYCMayor) October 5, 2023
During his international trip to the three Latin American nations, the mayor will appear on radio stations, television channels, and in local newspapers to convince potential migrants not to undertake the difficult and dangerous journey across the southern border and up to New York City. He also plans to combat misinformation peddled by migrant smugglers and social-media platforms about the city’s employment and luxury opportunities, which are not as plentiful now with over 117,000 asylum-seekers in its care.
“We need to counteract those forms of communications that are basically saying, ‘You come to the City of New York, you’re going to automatically have a job, you’re going to be in a five star hotel,'” Adams said at a Tuesday press briefing. “We want to give people a true picture of what is here. We are at capacity.”
The mayor will visit migrant sites in Puebla, Mexico, on Thursday before flying to Quito, Ecuador, the next day. On Saturday, he will travel to Bogotá, Colombia, where he plans to see the Darién Gap, a dangerous migration route between South and North America.
Despite his public-relations tour and an overwhelmed New York City, Adams still says he believes “the borders should remain open,” calling it “the official position of the city.”
On Tuesday, the Adams administration moved toward halting New York City’s 42-year-old right-to-shelter mandate, asking a state judge to modify or temporarily suspend the law amid the unprecedented migrant crisis. The letter sent to the judge clarified city officials do not intend to definitively “terminate” the law, though.
“We seek only the immediate relief that present circumstances demand. New York City has done more than any other city in the last 18 months to meet this national humanitarian crisis,” the letter reads. “The Judgment’s onerous terms are demonstrably ill-suited to present circumstances and restrain the City at a time when flexibility to deal with the emergency is paramount.”