Mayor Eric Adams jumped to the defense of the Big Apple’s migrant services Tuesday amid an ongoing influx of unhoused people — claiming the city’s “sanctuary” status hampers his administration’s ability to tackle the crisis.

Hizzoner declared that the city has “never seen this level of migration” during an interview with Fox 5 New York Tuesday morning — while warning that if thousands of migrants continue to inundate shelters, people will soon be “sleeping on the streets.”

“We were not just saying we’re out of room as a soundbite. We’re out of room,” Adams declared. “Literally, people are going to be eventually sleeping on the streets.”

The mayor reiterated that the city’s decades-old “right to shelter” law has not been used as it was originally intended. The misapplication of the law has caused the situation to spiral out of control with at least 161,500 asylum seekers arriving in New York since spring 2022.

“We cannot by law tell someone if they come into the city that they can’t come into the city,” Adams said. “We can’t even turn them over to ICE. The law states that we cannot notify ICE.” 

Gov. Kathy Hochul echoed Adams’ frustrations Tuesday, calling the thousands entering the city each week “untenable and unsustainable.”

“Once an individual entered the United States, they have an opportunity to say where they want to go,” Hochul said. “It’s not my rules. The rules are implemented. Now why they don’t want to stay in New Jersey. It’s a lovely state. Maybe they would find a nice job in New Jersey. But I believe they’re coming to New York because of the right to shelter.”

“I would say, I support the mayor’s effort to try to get control of the situation to the largest migration of humanity since World War II, and we are the number one destination,” Hochul added. “We do not have the ability to house the entire world.” 

When asked why migrants are being provided hotel rooms, food, clothing, cellphones and even health insurance — amenities that those immigrating to the US in years past have not received — Adams insisted this level of migration is unprecedented.

“We have never witnessed this level of migration in this hemisphere,” Adams said.

“We are being inundated and we have now moved to another phase of saying all of those services that you’re talking about … we got the food, shelter, clothing. That’s it. Because this is a national problem. It’s unfair for local municipalities and cities to handle this problem.”

Over 68,000 migrants are in the city’s care, with the crisis expected to cost over $12 billion by the end of 2025.

Ahead of the New Year, Adams issued an executive order Wednesday that requires charter bus companies transporting migrants with fares paid for “by a third party” to alert the city’s Emergency Management Office 32 hours before arriving in the Big Apple.

The order also limits drop-off hours to between 8:30 a.m. and noon daily and to a single location, on West 41st Street between Eight and Ninth avenues in Manhattan.

“We cannot allow buses with people needing our help to arrive without warning any hour of the day and night,” Adams said in a virtual press conference last week.

“This not only prevents us from assisting in an orderly way, it puts those who have already suffered so much in danger.”

Adams added that “failure to heed the new rules could result in criminal charges, fines, lawsuits and even buses being impounded.”

The new rules officially went into effect Friday afternoon with cops monitoring the drop-off area for any buses that arrive outside of that time frame, according to City Hall.

Companies that do not comply will face a class B misdemeanor, which comes with a fine of up to $2,000 and three months of jail time.