Mayor Adams Slashes Budgets of All City Agencies to Accommodate Illegal Migrants

By Yehudit Garmaise

When Mayor Eric Adams said that the migrant crisis “will destroy New York,”  he was admitting that the City does not have enough money to pay for social services to accommodate the 8.4 million native New Yorkers and the more than 110,000 migrants who have arrived in the City since last spring.

With no end in sight to the buses of migrants that keep arriving in NYC, Mayor Adams slashed by 5% the budgets of all city agencies: including schools as well as police, fire, and sanitation services, according to the mayor’s office.

After ordering initial budget cuts to take place in November, the mayor also requested further cuts in January and April.

When Adams said that the budget cuts could only be averted with the help of federal and state aid, he challenged President Joe Biden and Gov. Kathy Hochul to provide him with policy interventions and sufficient aid to accommodate the constant stream of migrants into the city.

The mayor has also requested help in directing some migrants to areas outside the city.

“We can avoid these cuts if Washington and Albany do their part by paying their fair share,” Adams said.

According to an internal email sent to city employees, additional budget cuts could slice up to 15% off the city’s total $107 billion budget, Gothamist reported.

If all the proposed cuts are enacted, $16.05 billion in New Yorkers’ tax money will disappear from funding a wide range of their city services.

The cost of sheltering and caring for migrants will cost $12 billion over the next three years, city officials predict.

Although city agencies have been directed to minimize disruptions to services and not to lay off any workers, Mayor Adams warned that many New Yorkers would feel the effects of the budget cuts.

In addition to cutting spending on city services, the mayor said the thousands of migrants who have recently arrived also will experience the pinch on their services, which include shelter, food, health care, and education.

“The simple truth is that longtime New Yorkers and asylum-seekers will feel these potential cuts,” the mayor said in a pre-recorded message. “And they will hurt.”