Rift between Mayor Adams, Governor Hochul deepens amid NYC migrant crisis
NEW YORK CITY (WABC) -- The rift between New York City Mayor Eric Adams and Governor Kathy Hochul appears to be widening amid the ongoing migrant crisis which has pushed the city to its limits.
Homeland Security's list of recommendations to the city on how to handle the migrant crisis has City Hall frustrated.
Federal money or expedited work authorizations, resources Mayor Adams has been begging for, were not offered, but the mayor on Tuesday, saved most of his fire for Governor Hochul.
Adams came out swinging in mid-season form.
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"I'm just really baffled that very smart people believe that this is sustainable for New York City," Adams said.
Those comments, made while speaking at a breakfast at the New York Law School, were about Governor Hochul refusing to force other counties to take in asylum seekers.
Then later at City Hall, the cracks in their partnership apparently deepened.
The Department of Homeland Security on Tuesday, offered 11 federal sites, many of them outside the city, to potentially house migrants.
This was Governor Hochul last week on housing migrants upstate.
"The city of New York and the Coalition for the Homeless signed an agreement that the city would provide shelter to anyone who seeks it," Governor Hochul said last week about housing migrants upstate. "This is an agreement that does not apply to the state's other 57 counties. Which is one of the reasons we cannot and will not force other parts of our state to shelter migrants."
But Mayor Adams says that's a "failed plan."
"If the national leaders are saying we're not going to stop the flow, that's a failed plan," he said. "And if the state leaders are saying it must stay in New York City, it's a failed plan."
When asked if he would go against the governor and send migrants upstate, the mayor made his intentions crystal clear.
"If I get permission from the federal government, we're going to use that," he said. "We are going to use any state that is available to take the pressure off New York City residents."
Eyewitness News reached out to the Governor's Office for a response.
A spokesperson declined comment, but the rift between the Democratic mayor, the Democratic governor and the Democratic president appears to be widening.
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