Eric Adams lashed out at Joe Biden for snubbing him during his visit to the city – pointedly saying the president “knows where I am.”
Biden arrived in New York on Sunday evening for the annual gathering of world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly.
He will remain in the city until Wednesday, but is not expected to meet the mayor, who has sharply criticized his handling of the migrant crisis.
Adams has often called on Biden to do more to stem the flow of arrivals — with more than 113,000 arriving in the city since spring 2022.
He tackled the migrant crisis crippling New York – which he said would “destroy” the city without urgent action.
Eric Adams is seen Tuesday promoting a new trash system designed to reduce the rat problem. He was asked if he was going to meet Joe Biden – who is in New York for the UN General Assembly – and he said Biden knew where to find him if he wanted to talk.
Joe Biden is seen addressing the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday
The migrants are photographed in front of the Roosevelt Hotel in midtown Manhattan, one of many co-opted by the city to house new arrivals.
Migrants were seen sleeping outside the Roosevelt Hotel, which has reached capacity since it was transformed into a designated center for asylum seekers.
Adams, the mayor of the largest city in the United States, admitted that he and Biden, both Democrats, had not spoken since the beginning of the year.
“President Biden is coming to the city,” Adams said Tuesday, speaking at an event aimed at improving New York City’s trash collection and reducing the rat population.
“I hope he understands that this beautiful city that is the economic engine of the entire country is struggling with $2 billion that we have already spent, $5 billion that we are going to spend in this budget crisis, $12 billion of dollars over the next two budget cycles.
“New York doesn’t deserve this, asylum seekers don’t deserve this.”
Adams suggested that Biden take the time to meet with him.
“So while he’s here, I think they should really think about: New York City has done its part,” he said.
He said Biden’s team could easily arrange a meeting.
Biden met with Brazilian President Lula and Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday morning.
Adams’ schedule included meetings with the mayor of Montreal and Kansas City, Missouri.
He later delivered remarks at the Atlantic Council’s Global Citizens’ Dinner and the Africa-America Institute’s 70th Anniversary Gala.
Adam’s team tweeted photos of him meeting the president of Sierra Leone, the prime minister of Sweden and the mayor of Seoul.
“Once we know what I’m going to do, we release a public schedule,” Adams said.
“I’m very public. Everyone knows where I am. You know where I am all the time. We free ourselves whether we want to be with the president or not.
Adams says New York City is struggling to cope and has ordered agencies to cut their budgets by 5 percent, and possibly 15 percent in the future, in order to fund the response to new arrivals.
The Roosevelt Hotel (photo), the Paul Hotel and the Paramount Hotel are among the hotels designated to house migrants in Manhattan.
A bus carrying migrants from Texas arrives at the Port Authority bus station in New York on May 3.
Asylum seekers, deprived of a hotel room, line the sidewalk of the Roosevelt Hotel
The city currently pays about $385 per night per migrant family that needs housing and food. In the photo, migrant children are seen playing outside the Roosevelt Hotel.
Despite Adams’ pleas for help from the state and federal government, the city has not received aid to cover the additional costs, so the $4.7 billion would come from city budget.
This amount is equal to the combined budgets of the city’s sanitation, fire and parks departments.
At the start of the school year, some schools were forced to turn away students because classrooms were overflowing.
City officials said they expected the number of asylum seekers to reach nearly 33,980 households this fiscal year.
The city currently pays about $385 per night per migrant family in need of shelter and food.
According to Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine, asylum seekers cost the city about $10 million every day.
Adams recently admitted the crisis threatened to “destroy” the Big Apple – but he blasted a lack of federal support, a “broken” national immigration system and Republicans busing refugees from their own states to the city .
The migration situation in the Big Apple has been described as a humanitarian crisis by officials, and it costs more than $9 million a day in housing, food and support.
In March, city officials launched a 24-hour center to manage the numbers and created a new agency to help coordinate efforts.
Mayor Eric Adams has warned that the crisis will cost the Big Apple $12 billion over the next three years.
An exasperated Adams demanded that the federal government step in to help the city avoid a budget crisis as spending mounts — now projected at $12.2 billion by the end of next year.
“It started with some crazy guy in Texas who decided he wanted to bus people to New York,” he said, referring to the governor’s busing of migrants to the city. Texas, Gregg Abbot.
Adams continued: “We have to feed, clothe, house 110,000 migrants…we have to educate their children, wash their sheets…give them everything they need.”
Indeed, many migrants have been bussed from southern states like Texas and Florida, with conservative governors in those states seeking to put some of the migratory pressure on progressive governments.
They are not undocumented but do not have work permits, as they must wait months to receive them after applying for asylum.
Experts believe this is one of the main problems, as migrants cannot work and become independent enough to find their own accommodation.
Adams warned that city services would be affected by the added pressure on the budget.
He previously said the city plans to cut services such as library hours, meals for seniors and free full-time care for three-year-olds.
Speaking to furious residents at a public meeting, he admitted he didn’t see a solution to the problem and criticized Joe Biden’s lack of help.
“Let me tell you something, New Yorker. Never in my life have I had a problem that I couldn’t see an end to. I don’t see an end to this,” he conceded.
“This problem will destroy New York City. Destroy New York City.