New York City Mayor Eric Adams boasted that he had ignored warnings by Colombian officials to go to the dangerous Darien Gap, sparking a security scramble in the dangerous border with Panama.
Wearing a military-style outfit and aviator glasses, the Democrat visited the port town of Necocli on Saturday as part of his four-day trip to Latin America to learn about the journey asylum seekers take before reaching New York and their warn the city. is ‘at capacity’.
His visit forced Colombia’s national police to deploy dozens of officers to escort him, while Adams told migrants he was fighting “propaganda” giving them false hope about the situation in NYC.
“We had to convince the National Police to allow us to go in … They were clear that we shouldn’t go in,” Adams said proudly Monday of the visit, as reported by The New York Daily News. “They will not allow me to go outside their protection.
“They had 50 National Police that were there, they wanted to do 100 because that area is an extremely dangerous area,… A lot of people who start going through the gap don’t make it through.”
Wearing a military-style outfit and aviator glasses, the Democrat visited the port town of Necocli on Saturday as part of his four-day trip to Latin America
The mayor, defeated in the port town, said he was given a ‘true analysis’ of the Darién Gap by Colombian officials
The dangerous 575,000-hectare jungle connects Colombia and Panama and serves as a route to the US for desperate migrants. More than a quarter of a million asylum seekers have passed through the treacherous Darien Gap to come to the US this year.
The jungle is dominated by Colombian paramilitary groups and migrants are picked off by corrupt officials, gangs, thieves and sexual abusers throughout the crossing.
The migrants often stay in transit countries for weeks or months while they make money to continue their journey. These migrants filled refugee camps in countries such as Costa Rica, Panama and Mexico
The mayor, who was hacked in the port town, said he had been given a “true analysis” of the Darién Gap by Colombian officials and law enforcement as part of his “fact-finding” mission, according to the New York Post.
“It’s a real learning experience of how Colombia has really shown a direction that we can all benefit from by analyzing what they’re doing and how we can grow on what they’re doing to show the humanity they deserve,” Adams said .
According to Panama’s National Immigration Service, more than 200,000 Venezuelans have crossed the Darien Gap this year on their way to the United States. They are seeking asylum because they say they are fleeing the social and economic collapse of the socialist nation.
The dangerous 575,000-hectare jungle connects Colombia and Panama and serves as a route to the US for desperate migrants
The jungle is dominated by Colombian paramilitary groups and migrants are harassed through the crossing by corrupt officials, gangs, thieves and sexual abusers.
Of the 248,000 migrants who traveled through the jungle last year, 40,438 were minors, UNICEF data showed. The agency also noted that more than 4,800 children and adolescents trekked through the dangerous rainforest in January, a sevenfold increase compared to the same period a year ago.
Adams’ trip to Latin America was slammed by critics as a vanity trip that would do little to deter migration to NYC, which is struggling to accommodate the 122,000 migrants who have arrived in 18 months
Estimated costs to accommodate them will cost $12 billion over three years. The staggering annual cost is equal to the city’s sanitation, fire and parks budgets combined.
The historic The Roosevelt Hotel in Manhattan – dubbed ‘the new Ellis Island’ by one city official – has become the registration point for the migrants and currently houses 3,000 asylum seekers.
Before his trip, Adams said earlier: ‘We want to give an honest assessment of what we experience here in this city. We are at capacity.’
Hundreds of migrants sleep in line for placement at the Roosevelt Hotel intake center in New York early on August 1
The Roosevelt Hotel (pictured), Paul Hotel and Paramount Hotel are among those designated to house migrants in Manhattan
“We’re going to tell them that coming to New York doesn’t mean you’re going to stay in a five-star hotel. It does not mean that the mere fact that you come here, you will automatically be allowed to work,” he said.
Adams made a series of urgent pleas for a shift in federal immigration policy and for funding to help the city manage the influx of migrants, which he said could cost the city $12 billion over three years as it takes up space at hotels rent, erect new emergency conditions. shelters and provide various government services for asylum seekers.
As part of his efforts to mitigate the crisis, Adams recently moved to tighten New York shelter rules by limiting adult migrants to just 30 days in city-run facilities amid overcrowding.
City and state leaders in New York, Illinois and elsewhere have urged the federal government to make it easier for migrants to get work permits, which would allow them to pay for food and housing.