New York City Mayor Eric Adams admitted in a media briefing on Tuesday that police officers in his city have identified “patterns” involving illegal migrants and crimes in the city.
The Democrat admitted that his sanctuary city, which has been overwhelmed by people from other countries who have entered the U.S. through the country’s porous southern border, is grappling with an uptick in auto thefts — which he referred to as GLAs, or grand larceny autos.
During his first interaction with the media in the new year, Adams was asked by a reporter about a comment he made last week regarding an influx of foreign nationals and crime.
“You said that migrants are responsible for some crime here in the city,” the reporter noted.
Adams was then asked, “So I want to be very clear, do you believe that migrants are committing crime here in the city, and what data are you using to back that up?”
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The mayor, who has previously complained about the burden migrants have placed on New Yorkers, answered in the affirmative.
“Do I believe that there are some migrants who are committing crimes in the city?” he asked rhetorically. “Yes. Yes. There are people who are committing crimes in all walks of life.”
Adams continued:
“It’s not just migrants and asylum seekers. I think that we have a number of migrants who have committed crimes. We have a number of non-migrants who have committed crime.
Should the next president immediately complete a border wall?
“So I do not want to walk away with anyone saying that the GLA increase we saw in the city was just migrants. No, it’s not. It was long‑term New Yorkers who committed GLAs also. But are there some crimes that migrants have committed? Yes, there are.”
Adams then claimed that some of the crimes the migrants are committing are out of necessity.
“You place a person in an environment where they can’t work, can’t provide for themselves, they have to just sit around all day, that’s not a good scenario,” he said.
Adams added, “That’s not a good scenario, and that is what we need to focus on. What environment are we creating in these cities?”
The reporter then asked Adams to back up his claims about foreign nationals and crimes with “data points.”
Adams replied that police have seen a “robbery pattern.”
“There was a robbery pattern, for instance, that when we looked at it. We identified that robbery pattern. There were some migrants that participated in that robbery pattern,” he said.
Adams added, “Every robbery pattern we have in the city is not done by migrants, but we identified that this was a robbery pattern, and there were migrants who participated in that robbery pattern.”
City Hall NYC.
During a briefing, a reporter asks the NYC Mayor about some migrants committed crimes. He states yes that there is a robbery pattern of some migrants who are committing crimes. I’m the one who broke this story. There is a scooter robbery crew that has been… pic.twitter.com/eeTIKuSN7t— Viral News NYC (@ViralNewsNYC) January 2, 2024
The Democrat was later asked if he believed New York City should refrain from designating itself as a sanctuary city.
He said that he would not support turning foreign nationals away but that he disagrees with an existing city decree that states there is a “right to shelter” for homeless individuals in the city.
He also said the federal government is ultimately responsible for ending the border crisis, although he did not name the Biden administration directly.
