Documents reveal Eric Adams sent migrants to Florida, Texas and China
This is where Politico (along with a few others) really drops the ball and loses my respect. Read halfway through the article to find that the 'obvious comparison' being drawn here - doesn't hold up at all. And yet, that is the headline and slant that we are intent on 'getting out there.'
NEW YORK After lashing out at leading Republicans for busing asylum-seekers to Democrat-led cities, New York Mayor Eric Adams turned around and did something similar sending dozens of migrants to red states like Florida and Texas.
And Adams didnt stop at the nations borders.
Between April 2022 and April 2023, New York City spent around $50,000 to resettle 114 migrant households in cities around the U.S. and the globe, according to information obtained exclusively by POLITICO through a public information request. Some were sent to countries in South America and one all the way to China.
- snip - Mayoral spokesperson Kate Smart said the efforts of Texas and New York are completely different.
Texas has been chartering whole buses to New York City whereas the Adams administration has been purchasing individual tickets for migrants who want to leave the state, she said. New York officials found that some asylum-seekers who arrived from Texas did not want to come in the first place and were dehydrated and malnourished when they got to Manhattan. She pointed to reports that asylum-seekers leaving Texas were wearing barcoded bracelets, were prevented from getting off the bus mid-journey and signed waivers many did not understand.
In contrast, New York City has, as we have discussed very publicly for months, worked to connect individuals with friends, family, and networks whether in New York City or outside of it, Smart said in a statement. We are not coercing people to leave, we are not suggesting or recommending locations, and we are not presenting any kind of false choice. We are helping people who want to reconnect with loved ones or communities do so.
- snip - At a press conference in October, Adams administration officials said around a third of migrants who came to New York City ultimately wanted to be somewhere else, but arrived in Manhattan anyway because the only free buses out of Texas were to New York and Chicago.
Because the countrys largest population of Venezuelans live in Florida, for example, most Venezuelan asylum-seekers said they wanted to head south, according to Manuel Castro, head of the Mayors Office of Immigrant Affairs.
It really is up to the individuals, he said at the October press briefing. We want to make sure that we support people [getting] to where they wish to go themselves.
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/06/23/eric-adams-hammered-florida-and-texas-over-migrants-but-he-sent-asylum-seekers-to-both-00103447
It would seem that these efforts regarding the immigrant influx, and needs, are quite, quite dissimilar. So why the effort to draw analogy?