Mayor Adams is scheduled to return to the nation’s capital this Thursday to address the ongoing migrant crisis, one month after abruptly canceling a meeting with White House officials on the same day the FBI raided his campaign fundraiser’s home in Brooklyn.
According to Deputy Mayor for Communications Fabien Levy’s tweet on Tuesday evening, the mayor is anticipated to engage in a “series of meetings” focusing on “the needs of NYC and other cities nationwide to handle the asylum seeker crisis.”
It remains uncertain whether Adams will have direct meetings with President Biden or other White House officials. Levy mentioned that a detailed schedule will be released on Wednesday night.
This visit will mark Adams’ tenth trip to Washington to explore strategies for managing the migrant crisis, which has seen over 140,000 migrants arriving in New York City since last year. Presently, the city is responsible for over 66,000 migrants, with many accommodated in hotels or designated humanitarian centers.
Adams has characterized the city’s management of the crisis, with limited intervention from the Biden administration, as unsustainable. In September, he declared that the crisis could “destroy” the city and subsequently announced significant budget cuts in response. Schools, police, sanitation, and other agencies are facing cutbacks, and a 20% reduction in migrant spending has been ordered.
The mayor anticipates the city will allocate $12 billion to address the crisis by mid-2025.
This trip essentially resumes the discussions Mayor Adams had intended to have at the White House last month. However, those meetings were abruptly postponed on the same day FBI agents raided the home of his campaign fundraiser, Brianna Suggs, in Brooklyn. Adams asserted that he wanted to return to the city, emphasizing his “on-the-ground” management approach.
The FBI investigation is reportedly centered on whether Adams’ campaign accepted foreign funds from the government of Turkey through straw donors associated with Brooklyn-based KSK Construction.
In progress…
