Democratic New York Mayor Eric Adams told Daily Caller News Foundation co-founder Tucker Carlson during a podcast episode Tuesday that former President Joe Biden and his staff allegedly told him to “be a good Democrat” when it came to handling illegal migrants in the city.
In December 2023, Adams and other sanctuary city mayors pleaded with the Biden-Harris administration for help with the migrant crisis, as their cities had received thousands of migrants. On “The Tucker Carlson Interview,” Carlson asked the Democratic mayor what some of his meetings with Biden and his administration were like, adding how Adams and state taxpayers were left “to deal” with illegal migrants who needed housing, food and other aid.
“I spoke with Julie Chavez [Rodriguez], [she] is one of the [Biden] personnel. [Tom] Perez, another personnel. I spoke with the president himself. I spoke with the president first, and then the president came here to New York City,” Adams said.
“The governor and I sat down with the president. I said, ‘Mr. President, I’m not sure what they’re telling you about this problem. But this is a terrible problem that’s playing out on the ground that we need to fix our border,’” Adams added. “‘We need to just stop allowing people to come into the country with no destiny. We don’t know what we’re doing with them, and they were stuck.’”
Under the Biden-Harris administration the U.S. southern border saw record high encounters from Border Patrol officials. Due to its sanctuary city title, New York City has dealt with a slew of issues regarding the massive amount of illegal immigrants that have entered after being bused in from Texas since 2023.
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Adams went on to say the city was expected to house migrants sometimes up to two years, questioning where the resources would come from.
“There [were] some that were coming here that were almost six months to a year, in some cases two years, without any work authorization,” Adams said. “Like what do you do with someone that cannot provide for themselves for that long period of time?”
The mayor went on to say that the city was expected to “feed, house, clothe and educate” an estimated 40,000 migrant children, while also caring for migrant adults.
“So you tell the president and his aides this, and what do they say?” Carlson asked.
“Basically, ‘Be a good Democrat, Eric,’” Adams said. “That was the basic overall theme. One of his aides told me, ‘Listen, this is like a gallstone. It’ll pass.’”
Carlson appeared shocked by the statement.
“Yes, [they said] ‘It hurts now, but it’ll pass,’” Adams said.
“Well you pee it out then! Why do you have to?” Carlson asked.
In February 2024, Adams was seen appearing to call out migrant laws that were put in place as a result of being considered a sanctuary city.
The mayor, however, has appeared to flip-flop on the crisis as he cut aid to migrants by a rough total of 30% and imposed a curfew on several shelters, despite announcing in 2024 a new $53 million taxpayer-funded program that will hand out prepaid credit cards to the city’s illegal immigrants.
