New York City Mayor Eric Adams says the sharp drop in asylum seekers entering the city is thanks to President Donald Trump‘s efforts to secure the southern U.S. border, a move he claims has brought “real relief” to the city’s strained resources.
In a conversation with New York Post columnist Miranda Devine on the “Pod Force One” podcast, Adams drew a direct line between Trump administration’s immigration enforcement and the city’s recent decline in migrant arrivals.
“We’re now down to less than 100 migrant asylum seekers coming into our city a week and that’s due to the securing of the border,” he said. “The Trump administration secured the border, and because of that, you’re not seeing the thousands of people coming in, and it has been a real relief for our city.”
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Adams, a Democrat, has been vocal about the fiscal burden of housing and caring for migrants. He pointed to the $7.7 billion spent by New York City in recent years, suggesting those funds could have addressed other pressing local needs.
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“That money could have gone to other services in our city,” Adams noted, expressing concern over the lasting impact of such spending.
When asked whether his criticism of President Joe Biden’s immigration policies created tensions with the White House, Adams tied the backlash to the federal bribery and fraud investigation he faced last year.
“What happened of this investigation that they put in place… I was in route to Washington to talk about the migrants and asylum seekers when the FBI went into the home of my fundraiser, and it started to unravel a long investigation and I truly believe it was associated with my criticism of what was happening in the city and I just wanted to defend my city and say that this was hurting us,” he said.
Adams went further, accusing the Department of Justice of politically motivated targeting, echoing sentiments often voiced by Trump and his allies.
“That is how mean-spirited — and that is the level of lawfare that we were experiencing,” he said. “And that’s why President Biden stated that his Justice Department became too politicized when he pardoned his son. President Trump said it was politicized, and I too believe it was politicized.”
He concluded with a broader warning about the implications of such federal actions, saying, “We were moving in the wrong direction with our Justice Department and I believe we should never allow Americans to go through what I went through and what others have gone through.”
In April, a U.S. district judge dismissed Adams’ corruption indictment with prejudice, bringing the legal battle to a definitive close.
