Adams on Work Permits Incentivizing More Migrants: ‘The Floodgate’s Already open’

On Thursday’s broadcast of WABC’s “Sid & Friends,” New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) reacted to charges that his push to give migrants in the city work permits will incentivize more migrants to come to the U.S. by stating that there already is an incentive and “The floodgate’s already open.”

Adams stated, [relevant remarks begin around 10:15] “Well, what’s interesting is that, two things, when I hear that, that, would it incentivize? People are already incentivized. … We’ve got 70,000 migrant asylum seekers that have come through the city. The floodgate’s already open. And the second thing, if you were to — I think everyone should visit the Museum of the City of New York that I was in yesterday. If you were to go to that museum and walk through or just Google the history of all of us, there has not been one ethnic group that people did not say, I don’t want them here. Not one. I don’t care who it is, if it’s African American, if it’s Chinese American, if it’s Italian American, Irish American, all of us heard the sentence, I don’t want them here. If you speak to your grandparents or your parents, they will all tell you what it was like trying to go and pursue the American dream. I want people here that want to work, that want to contribute to the city. The number of immigrants that did not stay home during COVID and made sure the city continued to operate is remarkable.”

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