Tensions persist between Biden and NYC Mayor Eric Adams over escalating migrant crisis

Despite the fact that President Joe Biden made a high-profile visit to the Big Apple this past week, he was effectively shut down by liberal New York City Mayor Eric Adams over worsening tensions related to the migrant crisis in the metropolis, as Fox News reports, though there are some small signs of improved relations, according to Fox News.

The outlet noted separately that despite Biden's presence in New York to address the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday, there were no indications that he and Adams had any place for face-to-face discussions about the continued influx of arrivals that has become one of the most significant challenges confronting the mayor in recent months.

Speaking to the situation this week was a City Hall insider, who reportedly told Politico, “It just means that the two of them are trying to avoid exacerbating an already tense situation.”

Adams himself told a reporter who inquired about the possibility of a meeting with Biden, “You know I don't do those private conversations” – a statement that seemed all the more pointed given the mayor's recent warnings about what will happen in New York City if action on the part of the federal government to address the crisis is not forthcoming.

It was earlier this month that Adams declared of the ceaseless flow of migrants into the city, “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.”

“This issue will destroy New York City. … All of us are going to be impacted by this. I said it last year when we had 15,000 [arrivals], and I'm telling you now at 110,000. The city we knew, we're about to lose,” Adams continued.

Sounding the alarm about the imminent and unavoidable financial effects of the migrant tide in the absence of Biden administration intervention, Adams added, “We have a $12 billion deficit that we're going to have to cut. Every service in this city is going to be impacted.”

Amid the poorly disguised hostility between the Adams and Biden administrations over the issue, however, a potential step towards detente was achieved on Wednesday, when the president agreed to fast track work authorization and protection against deportation for almost half a million migrants from Venezuela as Fox News noted.

Remarking on the development on social media, Adams write, “More than 116,000 asylum seekers have come to New York City since last spring in search of the American Dream. Our administration and our partners across the city have led the calls to 'Let Them Work,' so I want to thank @POTUS for hearing our entire coalition, including our hard-working congressional delegation, and taking this important step that will bring hope to the thousands of Venezuelan asylum seekers currently in our care who will now be immediately eligible for Temporary Protected Status.”

In announcing the administration's decision, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said that the Temporary Protected Status designation for Venezuelans would be extended for 18 months, citing “extraordinary and temporary conditions” in their home country that would prevent safe return.

Mayorkas added, however, that it was “critical that Venezuelans understand that those who have arrived here after July 31, 2023 are not eligible for such protection, and instead will be removed when they are found to not have a legal basis to stay.”

Adams is not the only Democrat who appears to have had a chance of heart when it comes to the open-arm welcome traditionally extended to any and all comers, with New York Gov. Kathy Hochul recently imploring potential arrivals, “If you're going to leave your country, go somewhere else.”

“We have to let the word out that when you come to New York, you're not going to have more hotel rooms. We don't have the capacity, so we have to also message properly,” Hochul added.

Notably, while Adams was steadfast in his apparent disinterest in engaging directly with Biden during his time in New York, Hochul did meet with the president on Tuesday, and while the mayor has been removed from the Biden reelection team, the governor is still considered an active surrogate for the 2024 campaign.