Mayor Eric Adams: Hello, how's everyone doing? I know you guys are two hours ahead of us in New York. Corresponding from Mexico City. Just wanted to give you a quick overview of what we are doing and the series of conversations we have been having.
Before we begin, I want to just really say thank you to the people of Mexico City in Puebla, they call themselves … Puebla York because eight out of 10 of the Mexicans that come to New York City comes from a city called Puebla. And we just received an extremely warm reception from them.
We know New York City and really America and Mexico, we have an unbreakable bond that goes back so many years between Canada, Mexico and America, our trade is at record levels on how we interact with each other. So, I'm grateful for this opportunity to speak with so many people who are dedicated to creating an even better future for the nation of Mexico.
And I'm also grateful to the many meaningful conversations that we have had with business leaders, CEOs, and those who are dealing with the real migrant crisis that's impacting these cities that are in this region. As many of you know, this trip is a combination of fact finding, having a clear understanding of what's taking place on the ground, and give a clear message to the people that are impacting on the various cities along this route of coming towards our country.
One that is a reality check that's crucial for me to give a very honest assessment of what we are experiencing in New York, a reality check for our city, our country and the thousands of asylum seekers who are making the dangerous journey to the United States.
This morning, I started in Mexico City where I met with Sister Magda, the head of CAFEMIN, a shelter for women and children in Mexico who have sought refuge. It was a real heartbreaking story as she shared with the capacity, the normal capacity for her services, it has reached a level that is really, as I have used the term often and hearing her say it as well, it's unsustainable. She spoke to me about the reality on the ground and what they're experiencing, and it sounds just so familiar to what we're experiencing in New York City.
The reality of the lives of the young people and families from Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador who have fled violence, poverty and instability, the reality of people she has helped. I'm seeing people coming from as far away as the west coast of Africa and other states and countries. Sister Magda's work is an inspiration to all of us. I joke with her and say she's the modern day Mother Teresa, because she has shown just real compassion for how she is treating those who are fleeing a destabilizing situation in their countries. And we discussed how we can work together and learn from each other to deal with this international humanitarian crisis.
And I also met with top Mexican CEOs in the American Chamber of Commerce and participated in a fireside chat with AT&T Mexico CEO Mónica Aspe. She shared some of the conversations that we've been having throughout this entire migrant crisis that we've been having throughout this entire migrant crisis that we are facing.
The solution to this crisis is going to take all of us. And I said it over and over again as people question why as the New York City Mayor am I in an international arena, because I must deal with this issue on the city, state, federal and international level. New York City's an international city as we saw during UNGA, and I met with many world leaders and mayors from across the globe. The way we handle problems in New York people look towards, and I'm going to ensure that we go to the source of this problem to add it into the solutions that we are going to continue to create.
In the meeting earlier, we discussed ways we can collaborate both on the asylum seeker crisis and how we can work together to continue to boost New York City's economy. This afternoon in Puebla, I met with community leaders, business leaders, mayors and members of Congress as well as the Governor of Puebla, and I want to thank them for their hospitality.,
Puebla and New York City share a deep bond, as I indicated, the large number of Mexicans who have come from this city and are now contributing to our society. We're more than neighbors, we are family, I like to say that New York City's sometimes called just that, as the [Puebla York], because of the number of residents.
And I'm proud that half a million people from the great state of Puebla have made New York City their home. They have contributed on many different levels, and they have contributed so much to our city — their food, their music and their culture — and you see it here as we move around.
I was grateful for the opportunity to meet with so many of the residents to strengthen our ties further, and the Governor and I discussed ways we can work together to benefit the community at home and in New York City and how we can work collaboratively to tackle the migration crisis and the reality of on the ground in Mexico and New York City.
As leaders of local and regional governments, we are at the forefront of many challenges, and we are aware of that. And those include economic inequality, climate resiliency and the asylum seeker situation . We are willing to roll up our sleeves, put our heads together and come up with solutions. And we need real solutions, because these are real problems.
We know that so many people are fleeing persecution, violence and seeking hope, and we have a good product in America. The American dream is alive and people are talking about that continuously in all the conversations that we had, the dire… The hard drive of participating in the American dream is a reality. We must make sure it is well coordinated, that it is not going to inundate our cities and state.
And we want to make sure that people who come to New York City have the opportunity to have safe and dignified migration, and we want to be clear of what we're facing in New York City now. Today we learned that Mexican law allows those who have applied for asylum to work and get a job, and it is helping the Mexican community fill the jobs that are available.
I think we should really reflect on that as we have called continuously to allow asylum seekers to work. This is something we will continue to advocate for. It's working here, and we believe it can work in our city.
We also make clear in our meetings that we want every single person who's thinking about risking their lives and their children's lives to come to New York to know the truth . As I stated over and over again in just about every interview, they must know the truth of what we're dealing with and how it will impact them every day.
We want to help as many people as possible. Our hearts are endless, but our resources are not. And I'm heartened by the discussions and meetings I've had thus far and hopeful that this is the start of a real international collaboration. And I look forward to another productive day tomorrow in Ecuador. Now I'll take some questions from you and attempt to answer any questions that you have around this trip, travel that we are participating on. Open the floor.
Question: So, you may have seen earlier today news broke that the Biden administration is waiving a number of federal laws in order to quickly build sections of border wall on the Texas border with Mexico. This specifically in a location where DHS is reporting a high number of illegal border crossings. I'm wondering, do you support this decision to build more border wall, and do you think it will help slow down the pace of migrants arriving in New York City?
Mayor Adams: We are still looking through exactly what this means, but you know, let's be clear. As we stated, we are getting 10,000 migrant asylum seekers a month, and that number is even increasing based on this surge. And what we have heard from experts that if you do, you know, build some form of wall, that people are finding dangerous ways to come through.
We've called over and over again, we need a real decompression strategy and we need to make sure that those who are coming through no matter which means, that they're doing it in a very organized fashion. And so we are still looking through exactly what this would mean for the flow of migrants that we're receiving in the city of over 63,000 people in our care now, and with the numbers continuing to increase, more are coming in than those who are cycling out.
Question: Mr. Mayor, thank you so much for doing this. I wanted to follow up with that. What do you think about the president's policy on deporting Venezuelans?
Mayor Adams: You said deporting Venezuelans? Did I hear you correctly? Okay, I believe that's what you stated.
Question: I'm sorry. Deportations of Venezuelans are going to increase.
Mayor Adams: We have not received an official comment from the White House. I don't want to speculate on something without a complete understanding of what this policy looks like. Currently, those who arrived before July 31st, 2023, are part of the TPS filing, the waiving that the White House acknowledged. If there's a new procedure that's going to be rolled out, we would like to look at it and see how this is going to impact with the consistent flow that we're receiving.
But let's keep in mind, we are getting migrants and asylum seekers from more than Venezuela. We're getting them from several regions throughout the entire globe, not only throughout this hemisphere.
Question: So, I have a question, two questions but they're related. You mentioned at first that Mexico has an asylum seeker program in your opening remarks. How does that work, and is that open to all of those who come through Mexico? And to just jump on that as well, you mentioned migrants are coming from all over the world, Mr. Mayor. Would you consider also doing the same type of trip to some of these West African countries, Mr. Mayor, because we have a lot of West Africans who are coming here and the word needs to go out to those in those countries as well. Thank you.
Mayor Adams: Yes. First, their status that once you arrive in the country you could immediately apply for work and asylum status, and while that is going through, they are allowed to work. They're allowing the migrants and asylum seekers to be employed so they could be self-sustaining, which I believe is a smart thing to do.
In addition to that, there's some real stories of individuals who were able to get home ownership and really reach independent status. It's something that we should look at. I believe we should study that and see what the impacts have been, because we should do the same.
And the extension of letting the asylum seekers and migrants work, it has never been our call just to do it with one particular country. We believe whoever is in America should have the right to work and be self-sustaining so it is not going to impact our local economy and take resources away from the services that we're providing for those New Yorkers who are struggling and those Americans who are struggling all over the entire country.
And so we're not limited to just Venezuelans. We believe that a well organized plan with a real decompression strategy and real control at our border will allow us to absorb the population and fill many of the jobs that are available in our country. And that's what we learned about here in Mexico. They had a great deal of jobs, factory jobs and other jobs they needed filled, and this has helped them with that pursuit. We have an employee issue in our country where we're looking more for more and more employees, and this is a way to address that.
Question: Mr. Mayor, while you're in Mexico City, top Biden officials are already there as well. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Alejandro Mayorkas and Merrick Garland. And they said that the decision to start deporting Venezuelans who came here illegally came out of talks with Mexican officials in Mexico City. So, I'm wondering, were you aware that these top officials were in Mexico City, and were you invited to partake in any of these talks, or was it just happy coincidence that you ended up being in Mexico while those officials are there.
Mayor Adams: A straight coincidence. I guess that all of our minds are thinking about the same thing, going to the source of the problem. And I was aware that they were here, and we wanted to continue to focus on our trip. I believe the extent of their trip is Mexico City, we're going a little deeper into the problem into Ecuador and into Colombia.
But yes, I was aware, but no, their trip was not coordinated with our trip and their conversations is based on what they believe is important at the time. And we want to be clear that we need… We were going to have my good friend Councilman Francisco Moya to join us, but he had a family crisis that he had to deal with. And we also were going to potentially join with Congressman Espaillat, but because of what's happening in Washington he had to address that issue.
But as I stated, we were aware that they were here, and we believe this is an all hands on deck moment, and if the federal government is going to have these conversations, we believe it's a real win, and we're going to continue to do what we have to do as the City of New York.
Question: I wanted to ask, so far from what you have seen from all of it on day one how much your perception or idea of this crisis has changed. From what you have learned, from what you have seen, has it changed at all your perception of this crisis? And that said, are you still confident that your administration will be able to adjust policy in New York City to be able to deal with this crisis successfully or as much successfully as possible.
Mayor Adams: One huge takeaway for me was what the people of Mexico felt about our actions. We were hailed for our humanitarian response on how we responded to this crisis in a very dignified way. The people of New York City should be proud, the people of Mexico have continuously shared with us, the congressional leaders, the governor that we sat down with and other leaders, they talked about New York City and our humane response to it.
In contrast to what we saw Governor Abbott do and others are doing, we did our best to keep the spirit of how immigration is important to our city and the countless number of city workers who have stepped up to the plate out of, you know, great strain and personal strain of themselves doing those long hours and volunteerism. It is not lost.
And so when you hear the small number of people who critique what we're doing, it was refreshing to hear those who are directly impacted talk about the job that we have done as an administration in dealing with probably the largest humanitarian crisis our city has ever experienced.
And we're going to continue to do that, but these are extremely challenging times for us. It's going to be extremely painful for New Yorkers and migrants and asylum seekers. They deserve a more dignified environment than we are able to give because of the magnitude of this problem, the costs associated with it and the navigation of this crisis.
Question: Mayor. I'm wondering, you had two, dual purposes for this trip, which is you'd talk to business leaders, but you've also said, you know, people in the countries you're visiting should not come to New York. I'm wondering, are you… Does that feel like a contradictory message to you at all? And what's been the response that you've gotten as you've delivered both those messages?
And my second question is you made some remarks earlier I believe that maybe linked the influx of migrants to the increase in shoplifting in the city. I'm wondering if there's any evidence from the NYPD or anyone else about whether the increase in migrants is related at all in any way to an increase in shoplifting.
Mayor Adams: Well, I'm going to take your later question first. What I was alluding to, and I want to be clear on that because I don't want my message to be distorted. When you put people in desperate situations, you know, increase a desperate environment. And that's what I was sharing to those chain stores, there were few chain stores that were there, et cetera, that we don't want to create those types of environments.
And so there's no evidence — and we are not saying that there's evidence — that migrants are doing any type of shoplifting. Are there cases where migrants have been arrested for shoplifting? Yes. But that is not a rampant problem that we're facing, and I'm going to be clear on that because I don't want what I was saying to those business leaders on why they needed to be on the front line and resolving this issue to give the impression that we are accusing widespread shoplifting associated with migrants. So, I hope you're clear on what I just explained to you and the reason why.
And we're not sending a mixed message. We're sending the same message. We're saying to those migrants and asylum seekers that when you come to New York, unlike what has been told to you that you're going to receive a job, that you're going to automatically receive a job, that you are automatically going to be placed in a hotel, that there's this endless flow of resources coming from New York City, we're saying that is not true.
And we wanted to communicate that on the ground. What we learned from many of the groups and organizations that we communicated with, there's a real public relations campaign that is put in place by the smugglers in others using social media and other forms of communication to state that New York City in general is a place that you can come and have all of these accommodations.
It is not true. We are going to learn from of those communications that are being used and we're going to come up with alternate methods, and that's part of the trips we're going to be taking to Colombia and El Salvador and my next, Ecuador, to identify how are those communications being made, and we need to push back on them on the ground.
###