It was the shot heard across Fox News.
A visibly frustrated Mayor Eric Adams told reporters in April 2023 that President Joe Biden had “failed” New York City amid the arrival of tens of thousands of migrants bussed from Texas.
Days later, at a panel discussion in Washington, D.C., Adams said the city was being “destroyed” by the crisis. Then in November, he blamed the lack of federal aid for the city’s budget cuts, saying the national government had “defunded” New York.
And last week, he joined an NYPD raid of a robbery ring, said to involve migrants, as his police commissioner described a “wave of migrant crime” in the city. Officials have been unable to provide data to substantiate that claim.
As Biden heads toward a rematch with former President Donald Trump, Adams’ breach of party unity has become a problem for Democrats. For months, he’s launched unrelenting broadsides against the federal government and honed a damaging political message: Biden is failing to handle the migrant crisis in America’s biggest city.
In so doing, the mayor has helped furnish a potent political weapon for Republicans. The influx in New York City, which had more than 170,000 new arrivals since the spring of 2022, has sparked angry protests and a steady barrage of criticism over Democrats’ immigration and border policies.
For Adams, who has been criticized over his management of the crisis, deflecting blame is a risky gambit that may come at the cost of further alienating himself from his party.
New Yorkers are among the most intense opponents to Trump, a Queens native whose 2016 election ushered in days of protests, the removal of his name across residential buildings he developed and a wave of progressive politics. In 2020, Biden captured more than three quarters of the vote across the five boroughs.
In contrast to Adams, high-profile members of his party, including Gov. Kathy Hochul, have recently focused their attacks on Trump and House Republicans for blocking…
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