Less than two months after Democratic New York City Mayor Eric Adams echoed conservative concerns by declaring that the border crisis would “destroy” the city, he is once again speaking out against the deleterious impact that a flood of migrant arrivals has already had on the Big Apple.
Specifically, Adams pointed to a sharp uptick in the level of prostitution across one community in Queens, which he said has been fueled by the influx of migrants from Venezuela.
“This is what happens when you create an atmosphere that people can’t provide for themselves,” the mayor said. “You can’t work, you can’t provide for your job and you have to turn to illegal activities to do so.”
Adams went on to acknowledge that this particular issue is just one of several ways that New York is changing for the worse due to the flood of undocumented migrants since the Biden administration’s lax border policies took effect.
“When I talk about the spiraling impact of how this is going to affect our city, this is what I’m talking about,” he said. “We are going to create generational problems based on the failure of the national government, and this is one example of that.”
NYC Mayor Eric Adams comments on the migrant crisis in NYC
" This is Devastating For Our City"pic.twitter.com/rtEyudXnTO
— Viral News NYC (@ViralNewsNYC) October 30, 2023
Noting that hookers are working on the streets at all hours of the day and night, Adams criticized the growing belief among many Americans that prostitution is a “victimless crime” that should be legalized.
“There are real issues around illegal sex work, not only from STDs to sex trafficking to young girls getting involved in it, to violence,” he said. “So people who don’t understand how serious this is, they are impeding our progress.”
Plenty of locals share the mayor’s concerns, including Ramses Frias, who weighed in on the troubling trend for a recent New York Post article.
“This doesn’t feel like New York anymore,” Frias lamented. “It’s like Bangkok, the red-light district. It’s like a market in a third-world country. We don’t want to have to walk around our streets walking through trash. We want to walk like New Yorkers, with our heads held high.”
Adams also responded to concerns about the city’s homeless problem, which has been exacerbated by tens of thousands of migrants who have arrived in recent months.
He has called for temporary limits to a citywide ordinance guaranteeing shelter to anyone who requests it, but critics say the current situation warrants a complete repeal of the provision.
