This column, from the weekly opinion piece MATTER OF FACT, first appeared on BrooklynReporter.com, the Home Reporter and Spectator dated October 7, 2022
The influx of migrants to New York City, sent unannounced southern-state governors who have decided to use vulnerable asylum seekers, including children, as political pawns, has become a crisis. Though Mayor Adams was quick to welcome and assist arriving migrants when they first began arriving, like with so many issues during his brief tenure as Mayor, he is now mishandling the situation while dismissing or bristling at any questions about how he is managing the problem.
While waiting on longer-term housing for those requesting temporary shelter, to be in compliance with the city’s right-to-shelter laws, Adams quickly moved forward with a plan to create a temporary, 1000-bed tent shelter in Orchard Beach in the Bronx. The contractor chose to erect the tent facility was a Texas-based company that raked in hundreds of millions of dollars to build portions of Trump’s useless border wall. After a half inch of rain in an hour last week, the area completely flooded, confirming concerns from immigrants’ rights groups that the location was not safe or suitable.
Besides the fact that putting a thousand people in tents in a beach parking lot off of Pelham Bay as we near winter is an absolutely terrible idea, using a Texas contractor that made a fortune off of building walls to keep migrants out, to now provide shelter for migrants sent her from Texas, shows a total lack of consideration or respect for these people.
“The far right is doing the wrong thing. The far left is doing nothing.”
Mayor Eric Adams, October 2, 2022, describing his view of the current inlf
The Adams administration has also utilized unused hotel space as a stop-gap solution to house some migrants. Again, this at first appears to be a reasonable short-term solution implemented by the mayor, but there have been reports that these emergency hotel shelters were not providing baby food, infant formula or enough milk. After reporting on this and sharing the information with the administration, News 4 reporter Melissa Russo asked the mayor about it, to which he responded that his administration “hasn’t heard those reports.”
Though Adams committed to following up on the matter with his team, at the time this column was written, there was no update and the only statements from the mayor or his administration related to food and formula for infants and children in migrant shelters have stated that all are sufficiently cared for.
At the same press conference on October 3 when he was asked about the formula and milk shortages, Adams also characterized the migrant crisis by saying, “The far right is doing the wrong thing. The far left is doing nothing.” It is no secret that Adams is not a far-left Democrat and he has sparred with that wing of the party on many issues, but to blame the far-left for doing nothing, when it has been progressive organizations that have helped house, feed, and clothe migrants since they first began arriving months ago, is as detached from reality as it is offensive. If anything, caring for these refugee families has been the rare matter where Adams and the far-left have often been aligned, yet as he now faces criticism for his missteps, he has chosen to falsely paint progressives as missing in action on this issue.
With the Orchard Beach location proving to be unsuitable for temporary shelter facilities, the mayor has shifted the plan to Randall’s Island, which is similarly problematic. Besides weather concerns, the original location faced criticism for being isolated, with limited public transportation options that would make it difficult to easily access schools, services, and locations where people might work. The new Randall’s Island locations has all the same issues, only they are much worse.
Adams does not appear open to responding to the hard questions about this, as has been his tact on most of his unpopular decisions. When many parents have asked him in public various times when he will restore the school funding cuts he pushed through, he has taken to giving a wry smile and repeatedly telling them that he will pray for them. That is it. That is his answer.
To be clear, Adams is in a difficult situation, as it is an extreme challenge trying to meet the needs of the migrants being sent here unannounced, but that does not excuse him from criticism or accountability.
