Call it a defiant mic drop.
Mayor Eric Adams on Thursday pushed back when asked if the city could have installed a better process to help migrants qualify for federal work permits.
“So a crisis that is created nationally, we’re looking at a local city to solve it. Is that what you’re trying to say to me?” Adams said when a reporter asked whether the city had not properly processed and surveyed migrants.
“Now we’re looking at the individuals who are trying to fix the crisis and saying, ‘You’re not doing a good enough job,’” he continued.
At which point, Adams abruptly walked away from the podium, as his staffers cued up his self-selected theme song, “Empire State of Mind” by Jay-Z featuring Alicia Keys.
The mayor’s reaction reflected his frustration over a crisis that he has increasingly asserted is not solely the city’s responsibility to fix. More than 110,000 migrants have arrived in the city over the last year, according to administration officials, straining the shelter system and costing the city billions.
But as Adams pressures President Joe Biden to expedite the federal work authorization process for migrants — a politically fraught process — the mayor has opened himself up for criticism.
Early on, experts urged city officials to invest more time assisting migrants with the asylum application process. Migrants have only one year to apply for asylum with the federal government, after which they must wait six months before they can be considered for a work permit. And filling out the application is not easy. It consists of 12 pages, all in English, and requires fees of more than $400.
Almost 60,000 migrants are staying in the city’s shelter system. To date, less than 20% of them have applied for asylum so far, according to City Hall. Less than 10% have applied for work permits.
At a briefing earlier this week, city officials said only a small minority of migrants decline the asylum process when asked. They said they did not know how many…
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