While New York City Mayor Eric Adams may be “crying” about his city’s immigration crisis, he is the one who has been “incentivizing” migrants to choose New York, according to Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY), who offered several ways to end the crisis, including the undoing of executive orders “that allow for our borders to be completely open.”
In an exclusive interview with Breitbart News, the Republican congresswoman addressed a recent viral clip of Gov. Eric Adams (D-NY) declaring that illegal immigration, at its current pace, “will destroy New York City,” as he warned New Yorkers that “every service in this city” will have to be cut and that migrants will “come to your neighborhoods.”
Blasting Adams for acting “like he did not exacerbate this problem — which he certainly has done,” Malliotakis noted three ways to end the current crisis.
The first way, she suggested, is that President Joe Biden — who “created this crisis” after he “came into office and decided to dismantle the policies of President [Donald] Trump that were working in stemming the flow simply because it was President Trump’s policy” — could “end it today by just admitting he was wrong” and undoing his executive orders “that allow for our borders to be completely open.”
She also noted that the current administration “fights to keep an open border in court on a regular basis, whether it be on Title 42, [the] Remain in Mexico [policy], or going after states that have sued [the Biden administration].”
“So they’re going out of their way to allow the border crisis to continue,” she added.
Another way, she noted, is that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) can “pass our border security aspects — that’s the bill, H.R. 2, that we [Republicans] passed in May.”
Given that Schumer “represents New York City,” Malliotakis questioned why Adams “hasn’t mentioned him once.”
“He controls the Senate [and] he’s the one that’s prohibiting our bill from getting a vote. He’s a guy who always loves to drop the word ‘democracy’ but won’t let his members or duly elected [representatives] have a vote on behalf of the people they represent on whether they want a secure border or not,” she said.
According to Malliotakis, the New York mayor should be “pushing him to allow this bill to come to the Floor for a vote because H.R. 2 would really solve the problem.”
“It basically reinstates the policies of President Trump [and] gives Customs and Border Protection (CBP) the tools that they’ve been saying that they need to do their job,” she explained. “It [also] increases certain visas, so people can apply properly to come into the country, and it would really go a long way in resolving this crisis.”
Lastly, she stated, Adams can “stop misinterpreting New York City’s ‘Right to Shelter’ decree.”
“It was a court decree that was meant for New Yorkers. It was meant for citizens, not for citizens of other countries to stroll into New York,” she explained.
While Adams, from the start, “insisted that New York taxpayers had an obligation to house all these individuals,” Malliotakis explained that since the situation has “gotten out of control,” Adams is “crying” about it.
“He’s the one who continues to incentivize people to come to the city by allowing them to stay free in luxury hotel rooms, giving them free food, free lawyers, free services, health care, education,” she said. “He’s incentivizing people to choose New York.”
“There’s a reason why New York is experiencing this while a lot of other cities are not experiencing it to this extent,” she added. “Because the mayor continues to incentivize people to choose New York City by offering all these free services. So he’s responsible.”
The House Republican representing Staten Island also highlighted the migrants arrested at the Roosevelt Hotel — whose stay is being paid for by the city.
“Forty-one of these individuals have been arrested at the hotel since it opened and none of them are being deported; none of them are in jail,” she stated. “They continue to live in the Roosevelt Hotel at taxpayer expense because of the various laws that the Democrats in New York put in place — one being the bail law which releases criminals right back onto the street, [and] the second being a law that prohibits any cooperation with federal authorities to deport individuals.”
“The third one being the sanctuary law that [former Mayor] Bill de Blasio put in place that kicked Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) out of Rikers Island prison, and also protected people from deportation — even if they have committed a crime,” she noted.
Malliotakis emphasized that the entire crisis was “created by Democrats.”
“The Democrats can undo it today [yet] they choose not to,” she stated. “They want to continue these stupid policies, then they can’t point fingers at each other.”
“They’re 100 percent responsible for this whole mess,” she added.
The matter comes after the visibly frustrated Democrat Mayor of New York City warned during a townhall on the Upper West Side last week that the arrival of 110,000 border crossers and illegal aliens since the spring of last year will lead to the destruction of New York City as waves of illegal immigration have continued unabated under President Biden’s watch.
“Let me tell you something New Yorkers: Never in my life have I had a problem that I did not see an ending to. I don’t see an ending to this. I don’t see an ending to this. This issue will destroy New York City — destroy New York City. We’re getting 10,000 migrants a month,” Adams said, adding that no New York City neighborhoods, from Staten Island to Queens, will be spared from illegal immigration.
“It’s going to come to your neighborhoods. All of us are going to be impacted by this,” he said. “I said it last year when we had 15,000 [and] I’m telling you now with 110,000. The city we knew, we’re about to lose.”
His remarks come as New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) has effectively cheered on illegal immigration to the region, suggesting repeatedly that it is a boon for employers who are looking to hire foreign workers.
Most recently, Hochul announced a workforce initiative to connect recently arrived border crossers and illegal aliens with employers.
Joshua Klein is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jklein@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter @JoshuaKlein.