NYC Mayor Eric Adams Set To Travel to Mexico To Address Migrant Crisis

New York City Mayor Eric Adams is set to travel to Mexico to address the worsening migrant crisis in the Big Apple.

The Democratic lawmaker plans to go to Central and South America this week to foster relations with local leaders and learn more about the path taken by asylum seekers. The situation comes as NYC prepares for a potential record-breaking surge in migrants soon.

Eric Adams To Visit Mexico

On Monday, City Hall announced Adams' planned trip, which would have the mayor start from south of the border in Mexico City on Wednesday and then head to the nearby town of Puebla. This is where many Mexican migrants in New York City have traditionally come from. He will later travel to Quito, the capital of Ecuador.

On the final day of Adams' trip, he will go to Bogota, Colombia, and Darien Gap, where many migrants pass through on their way north. However, sources with knowledge of the planned travel said its underlying objective is to use local news coverage as a media blitz to talk migrants out of coming to the Big Apple, as per the New York Post.

The interim director of New York City's Asylum Seeker Operations, Molly Schaefer, recently sounded the alarm of a potential influx of up to 4,200 migrants in a week. In the past few months, officials from the city recorded an average of 3,000 people coming into the area every week.

A City Hall insider said there had been a surge of asylum seekers at the border recently, which he claimed has been discussed for a week at least. Officials also confirmed that preparations are underway in case of a rush of migrants, saying that the administration expects the daily count of asylum seekers to rise to 500 to 600 from the latest average of 300 to 400.

Kayla Mamelak said that they expect a surge in the area based on a surge at the southern border. She added that whenever there is a rise in the number of migrants at the border, there will most likely be an influx of asylum seekers in New York City as well.

NYC Migrant Crisis

City Hall aides also noted that Adams' planned trip is designed to examine what they describe as a misinformation pipeline encouraging migrants to continue crossing the border despite limited legal work opportunities in the United States and housing capacity in the Big Apple, according to NBC New York.

Adams will attend an international business conference on Thursday, where City Hall said the Democrat will speak with local and national leaders. The New York City mayor also plans to meet with local community organizations and asylee integration programs in Quito, Ecuador, to discuss how the asylum seekers are passing through the region and what is being done to stop them.

The trip comes on the heels of the NYC mayor's budget office issuing a memo to all city agencies that instruct them that taxpayer dollars cannot be used for any "travel expenses outside of the city. Officials cited concerns about the fiscal burden of the migrant crisis in the region, according to the New York Daily News.