New York City has always been a sanctuary city and will take care of migrants who arrive there, but GOP Govs. Greg Abbott and Ron DeSantis must not send immigrants without coordinating with the city and others before busing people miles across the country, New York City Mayor Eric Adams said Sunday.
"This city has always been a sanctuary city, and we've always managed those who wanted to come to New York City to pursue the American dream," Adams said on ABC News' "This Week." "But, we're not asking for people all over the country to send people to New York merely because they don't want to take on their responsibility to help those who are seeking this American dream. That is not what we're asking for."
Instead, coordination would allow the ability to get sponsors and work with nongovernmental organizations, he said.
"That is what crisis calls for," said Adams. "It calls for coordination."
The mayor said he traveled to Washington, D.C., last week where he spoke with Sens. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., and others, as well as with the Biden administration, to discuss ways to coordinate with the transfers.
"Their goal is to make sure we get the resources and coordination that's needed," said Adams. "These migrants and asylum seekers are not coming to any particular city. They're coming to America. This is an American crisis that we need to face."
Abbott has sent approximately 11,000 migrants from Texas to New York City, Chicago, and Washington, D.C., to protest the Democrats' policies at the border, and DeSantis last week flew migrants to Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts.
Adams commented Sunday that his city has a "moral and legal obligation" to provide shelter to people who end up there, but he said Abbott has not collaborated in the efforts to transport the immigrants, even though his office had agreed to do so.
Abbott and DeSantis were invited onto the program, but did not appear, said co-host Jonathan Karl.
"I don't think it was politically expedient for them to coordinate. It was more to do this, basically, showmanship," said Adams.
Mayor Oscar Leeser of El Paso, Texas, also appeared on the program and said he's concerned about the numbers of migrants coming into the country, but he also thinks it's important to carry out a joint effort to deal with them, as they are not only coming to his city but "to America."
"We don't send anyone where they don't want to go. We make sure we help them," Leeser said. "We put them on the buses with food and make sure they get to their destination and make sure that we always continue to treat people like human beings."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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