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The cash-strapped Big Apple is on the verge of turning into one big refugee camp, with Mayor Adams warning the migrant crisis could soon spill out onto the streets.

The mayor, who has blamed the crush of asylum seekers arriving in the five boroughs for sweeping cuts to city services, said Tuesday that migrants may soon be sleeping on the curb.

As a part of the planned cuts, Adams also promised to slash the cost of housing the migrants by 20% — although he’s yet to say how. 

“The visible signs of this crisis is going to start to show itself and our goal is to not have people sleeping on the street,” Adams said at a Tuesday press conference. 

“And, actually, believe it or not, there are migrant and asylum seekers who are saying, ‘We want to sleep on the streets.’ And so, [because] people have the right to do so, we need to be clear on that in New York City. People have a right to sleep on the streets. We cannot stop them. I want New Yorkers to understand that.”


  Mayor Eric Adams said Tuesday that the Big Apple migrant crisis will become more ‘visible’ when more asylum seekers begin sleeping in the streets as the crisis continues to overwhelm the city. Robert Miller Mayor Eric Adams said Tuesday that the Big Apple migrant crisis will become more ‘visible’ when more asylum seekers begin sleeping in the streets as the crisis continues to overwhelm the city. Robert Miller

When asked if all his dire warnings were just a negotiating tactic to prod the Biden administration into coughing up more money for New York, the mayor complained that the flow of migrants from the out-of-control southern border was a national problem — and that the feds weren’t doing enough to help

“You know, and I think that when you have elected officials looking for political points, instead of making the point that New York City tax dollars should not be going to paying for a national problem,” he said Tuesday. “Every conversation should start with that … so we don’t try to use this as leverage. 

“It’s unfair to migrants and asylum seekers and it’s unfair to New York City taxpayers.”


  Adams warns that the city cannot stop people from sleeping on streets. Ron Adar / M10s / SplashNews.com Adams warns that the city cannot stop people from sleeping on streets. Ron Adar / M10s / SplashNews.com

Adams has frequently called out the Biden administration for not helping the city enough. During one meeting last year with administration officials he told them, “there’s no leadership here.

“There is no reason the national government is not standing true to the basic principle of the American experience to allow you the right to work,” he said during a Brooklyn rally in August. “It is unacceptable.”

And the figures show how much federal help is needed. City Hall has repeatedly warned that the crisis could cost taxpayers as much as $12 billion over the next three years. The eye-popping price tag has now created a budget crunch. 

As a result, the mayor gave all city departments until this month to slash an initial 5% from their budgets — and warned they should brace for an additional two rounds, totaling another 10%, early next year.


  Some migrants even want to sleep on the streets, the mayor said. Ron Adar / M10s / SplashNews.com Some migrants even want to sleep on the streets, the mayor said. Ron Adar / M10s / SplashNews.com

Hizzoner also said he’ll trim 20% from the cost of sheltering the more than 140,000 migrants who have come through the Big Apple, with 65,000 still under city care. 

But he is yet to detail how he plans to pull it off.

“Every day there is a level of maneuvering that we have to do with the flow of migrants and asylum seekers here,” Adams said. “Nothing is off the table. 

“Our desire has always been a layered approach to, first [and] most importantly, layer not to have children in the sleeping in the streets industry. That has been my number one concern,” the mayor continued. “Secondly, is not to have everyday people sleeping on the streets.”

He addressed the issue again at a roundtable discussion on WABC77-AM hosted by John Catsimatidis, during which he called on business leaders “to help me address the asylum seeker issue.


  Mayor Eric Adams said more migrants could take to sleeping in the streets. Christopher Sadowski Mayor Eric Adams said more migrants could take to sleeping in the streets. Christopher Sadowski

“ We have successfully gotten 50 percent of them stabilized, but we still have over 65,000 that are in our care,” he said. “We need to allow them to work, to fill the employment positions that many of you have.

“And we need to ask the federal government to, one, have a decompression strategy so the other cities, counties and municipalities can also share in the burden,” he said. 

“Two, we need to pay for this. This is a national problem. New York City’s taxpayers should not be paying this cost.”

Meanwhile, the state, which Gov. Hochul said has doled out $2 billion to help with the crisis, may be moving away from chipping in for migrant shelters — and instead focusing more on other costs like legal services.

City Budget Director Jacques Jiha said that could mean “more drastic action.

“So, we are hoping that we don’t have to get there and we get more assistance from the state,” Jiha said. “At the same time, we are exploring different exit strategies.” 

That could include a tweak to 30- and 60-day camps for shelter says to move migrants out quicker. 

“Our goal is to not have people sleeping on the street. We don’t want to turn into those cities that are displaying that,” Adams insisted. “The first most important layer is to not have children sleeping in the streets.”

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