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Eric Adams declared Thursday that he feels at home in Mexico – because there are so many Mexicans living in New York City.
The mayor arrived in Mexico City on Wednesday evening to begin a controversial visit that he said is aimed at understanding why migrants are flocking to the Big Apple.
Critics have said it is a self-aggrandizing publicity tour and a waste of money – arguing that he should instead be in Washington DC and Albany asking for more federal and state aid.
New York City has received more than 122,000 migrants in the past year and is struggling to accommodate the influx.
On Thursday, Adams traveled to the city of Puebla, 100 miles south of Mexico City, to meet with local leaders.
Eric Adams is seen Thursday in the city of Puebla, 100 miles south of Mexico City, as he continues his tour focusing on migration
Adams tweeted a photo of Puebla’s parliament, where he gave a speech on Thursday
“More than half a million members of the Puebla community live in New York City, and this region of Mexico feels like a little piece of home,” he wrote on X.
“You feel the shared values of community and hard work.”
Adams shared photos from a visit to an altar and a session at Puebla’s ornate state congress building.
He spoke to local representatives and described the ties between his city and a Mexican state that has sent some 800,000 residents to New York over the years.
‘We are neighbours. We are family. My house is my house. Your fight is my fight,” Adams said in the legislative chamber.
“During COVID-19, it was your children who kept our stores open, the first responders, transportation professionals, healthcare professionals.
“We survived COVID because your kids were in our town.”
After the speeches by Puebla’s governor and mayor, members of Congress began chanting “Adams hermano, ya eres poblano,” a welcome that translates to “Brother Adams, you are already a Pueblan.”
Sergio Salomón Céspedes, the state’s governor, called him “Mayor of Puebla York.”
Adams will meet with Mexican officials in the city of Puebla on Thursday
In August 2022, New York Mayor Eric Adams welcomed migrants and asylum seekers arriving from Texas at Port Authority, saying he was proud that New York is a receiving state.
New York Mayor Eric Adams speaks to the press in front of the Basilica de Guadalupe on Wednesday after visiting the Shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe in Mexico City
Hundreds of migrants sleep early on August 1 in line for placement at the intake center of the Roosevelt Hotel in New York
Migrants pour into New York City and line up to enter the Federal Plaza to file with immigration authorities, October 2
But later, speaking to reporters, Adams again returned to the refrain he had repeated during his Latin America trip: New York is “at full capacity.”
He added, “There’s no more room in New York. Our hearts are endless, but our resources are not. We do not want to place people in communal shelters. We don’t want people to think they’re going to find a job.”
Late Tuesday in New York City, a court asked for the ability to suspend the country’s unique so-called “right to shelter” agreement, which requires it to provide emergency housing to anyone who requests it.
The filing is the latest in a months-long effort to suspend the law that has long made New York a haven. The Adams administration argues that the agreement was never designed for a humanitarian crisis like the one the city faces today.
Adams said the current crisis was caused in part by what he called Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s “inhumane” decision last April to send migrants from his state to New York City on chartered buses.
“These are people who have traveled in very dangerous terrain. And what he’s doing is exploiting this for political reasons,” Adams said.
Adams said these are “extremely challenging times.”
Seen from the air, a U.S. Border Patrol agent watches as immigrants walk into the United States after crossing the Rio Grande from Mexico on September 30.
Asylum seekers await processing by U.S. Border Patrol agents after crossing the Rio Grande from Mexico into the United States
“It will be extremely painful for New Yorkers, migrants and asylum seekers,” he said.
“They deserve a more dignified environment than what we can provide, because of the scale of this problem and the costs associated with it, and because of the management of this crisis.”
The mayor kicked off his four-day tour of Latin America Wednesday evening with a visit to the Basilica of Guadalupe in Mexico City, a place of worship for many would-be migrants just before they begin their journey north.
Over the next two days, Adams plans to travel to Quito, Ecuador, and Bogota, Colombia, before visiting the jungle-covered Darien Gap, a particularly dangerous part of the route many migrants take north, on the border of Panama and Colombia.